MIAX fertilizer futures go live with 4 physically settled NOLA contracts

MIAX fertilizer futures for urea, MAP, DAP and potassium chloride were scheduled to become active on the exchange’s Onyx platform for the October 19 trade date, according to MIAX Futures exchange notices, giving the U.S. market its first physically settled contracts tied to New Orleans (NOLA) delivery. The exchange had not published first-day volume or open interest at the time of writing.

The four contracts, certified with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on October 1, trade in 25-short-ton lots and clear through the MIAX Futures Clearing House. The urea contract calls for free-flowing granular urea with at least 46% nitrogen. Physical delivery is designed to pull futures prices toward NOLA barge values as each contract nears expiry.

To seed liquidity, MIAX filed a fertilizer futures volume incentive program for proprietary trading groups and individual traders, plus a dedicated market maker program for the urea contract, both effective from the October 19 trade date. Cross-product spreads are available across all four contracts.

The launch follows a year in which U.S. retail prices for all eight major fertilizers moved above year-ago levels, according to DTN data, and as MIAX certified the NOLA contracts earlier this month. CME Group already lists cash-settled fertilizer swaps, so the key test for MIAX fertilizer futures is whether dealers and cooperatives use physical delivery to hedge.

Watch for early volume reports and the first delivery cycles, which will show whether futures converge with physical NOLA prices.