CME Group announced the first Aluminum MW US Transaction Premium Platts (25MT) Futures (AUP) contracts were traded on August 8th 2013. This trade was brokered by Jeffries Bache. Trade was a 54 lot strip transaction for November and December 2013 between a physical trader and a major dealer.

This contract is the first Exchange product that enables the aluminum Midwest premium to be managed. This is a complementary product to the LME aluminum contract. The US Midwest aluminum premium was originally created to cover the freight from Baltimore to the Midwest. It now incorporates supply and demand of the North American specific market to complement the LME aluminum contract.

In the past three years, the premium increased from USD 0.04 per lb to close to USD 0.09 per lb and it is now a larger component of the aluminum consumer's cost and risk. This contract enables market participants in North America to better manage their price risk.

Mr Harriet Hunnable MD for metals of CME Group Metals said that "This innovative aluminum swap futures contract enables commercial market participants in North America to better manage their price risk on an average basis throughout the month."