CME Group to Launch Beef Trim Contracts to Manage Risk Across the Cattle Supply Chain

CHICAGO, June 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today announced plans to launch two types of Beef Trim contracts, which will help the agriculture industry manage risk associated with the key ingredient in producing hamburgers. Trading is expected to start on July 20, 2026, pending regulatory review.

The financially-settled 90% and 50% Lean Beef Trim futures and options contracts track products used to produce high-volume ground beef. In the physical market, 90% and 50% represent the lean percentages for beef trim relative to the fat.

"These new contracts are designed for the last stage of bringing cattle to market, giving producers a complete set of risk management tools," said John Ricci, Managing Director and Global Head of Agricultural Products. "By offering both 90% and 50% lean beef trim specifications, market participants can now precisely manage the input costs tied to popular retail blend ratios, bridging the gap between live cattle prices and the ground beef they ultimately sell."

"The launch of CME's Group's Beef Trim futures contracts is a meaningful step forward for risk management in protein markets," said Taylor Coughlin, Global Market Forecasting & Analytics Lead at FMG Global. "Beef trim prices have been highly volatile, and until now market participants have had limited tools to hedge that exposure directly. A dedicated futures contract improves price transparency and discovery while giving packers, processors and end users a more effective way to manage price risk. Ultimately, this kind of innovation strengthens the supply chain by enabling participants to make more informed, forward-looking decisions in an increasingly dynamic market."

CME Group achieved record annual average daily volume (ADV) of 1.9 million contracts for Agricultural products in 2025 along with record annual ADV for Live Cattle futures and options (111,718) and Feeder Cattle futures and options (31,545 contracts).

The new 90% and 50% Lean Beef Trim futures and options contracts will be listed and subject to the rules of CME. For more information on these products, please visit https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/agriculture/lean-beef-trim-futures-and-options. 

As the world's leading derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) enables clients to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets, optimize portfolios, and analyze data – empowering market participants worldwide to efficiently manage risk and capture opportunities. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, cryptocurrencies, energy, agricultural products and metals.  The company offers futures and options on futures trading through the CME Globex platform, fixed income trading via BrokerTec and foreign exchange trading on the EBS platform.  In addition, it operates one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers, CME Clearing. 

CME Group, the Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Globex, and E-mini are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc.  CBOT and Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc.  NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc.  COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. BrokerTec is a trademark of BrokerTec Americas LLC and EBS is a trademark of EBS Group LTD. The S&P 500 Index is a product of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC ("S&P DJI"). "S&P®", "S&P 500®", "SPY®", "SPX®", US 500 and The 500 are trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC; Dow Jones®, DJIA® and Dow Jones Industrial Average are service and/or trademarks of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. These trademarks have been licensed for use by Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. Futures contracts based on the S&P 500 Index are not sponsored, endorsed, marketed, or promoted by S&P DJI, and S&P DJI makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in such products. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 

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SOURCE CME Group