International derivatives marketplace CME Group today announced plans to launch new European dairy futures and options contracts before the end of 2026, pending all regulatory reviews.

The company will introduce new futures and options contracts for European Skimmed Milk Powder, European Butter, European Whey Powder and European Liquid Milk as a first step toward regional expansion following an agreement with the European Energy Exchange earlier this year.

These products will position CME Group to expand on recent record activity within the Dairy complex, including reaching record monthly open interest of an average 420,922 contracts a day in September, a 42% increase year over year, and an all-time daily open interest record of 461,493 contracts on September 29.

“We’ve long served the dairy community across the U.S., and now we’re bringing that same commitment to Europe,” said John Ricci, Global Head of Agricultural Products at CME Group. “By offering futures and options, we’re giving participants a more complete toolkit to deploy capital efficiently and manage regional price risk – all on a single platform alongside our U.S. complex.”

The new contracts will be financially settled and will initially track EEX indices before transitioning to CME Group indices. They will be listed on and subject to the rules of CME.

CME Group and EEX are also working to transition the EEX Weekly European Cheese Indices and the Pan European Butter Index to CME Group for continued benefit to the industry.