CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, announced Nov. 14 that it will launch block cheese futures and options in January 2020, pending regulatory review.

"Our clients continue to look for tools to manage their price exposure in physical cheese markets, including food manufacturers and processors of cheese," said Tim Andriesen, managing director of agricultural products at CME Group. "The addition of block cheese futures and options to our existing suite of cash-settled dairy products provides clients with another solution for managing and hedging their risk."

The new futures and options contracts will be cash settled to the monthly average price for 40 lb. block cheddar cheese as reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "National Dairy Products Sales Report," with each contract representing the equivalent of 20,000 lb. of block cheddar cheese and the tick size of $0.001/lb.

Block cheese futures and options will be listed with and subject to the rules and regulation of CME. More information is available at www.cmegroup.com/dairy.