Black Sea CVB Wheat Futures (Argus) See First Trades on CBOT Since Launch

June 18, 2025 | Source: CME Group & Argus Media

Trading activity has officially commenced for the Black Sea CVB Wheat (Argus) futures contracts on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), marking the first transactions since the contracts were introduced by CME Group earlier this year.

First Trades Executed

On June 18, two counterparties completed two significant trades on the September 2025 futures contract:

• 200 lots (equivalent to 10,000 metric tons) were traded at $231 per ton
• Later the same day, another 200 lots were traded at $233 per ton

These trades represent the first market activity since CBOT suspended trading and clearing of all Black Sea wheat futures and options in August 2023.

Settlement Mechanism

The contract is cash-settled based on the arithmetic average of the FOB CVB Romania–Bulgaria 12.5% protein wheat price, as published by Argus AgriMarkets between September 1 and 15, 2025.

Strategic Significance

The relaunch and successful execution of these contracts enable market participants to hedge or gain exposure to wheat exports from the Black Sea region—the world’s largest wheat export hub.

With growing geopolitical and supply chain volatility, the availability of a transparent, liquid futures instrument linked to the Romania-Bulgaria FOB benchmark provides new risk management capabilities for traders, exporters, and importers globally.

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