CME Group Launches U.S. Zinc Futures with First Trades Involving Glencore and Trafigura

CME Group said the first electronic trades in its U.S. zinc futures contract were executed on August 20, 2026, for September delivery, with Glencore and Trafigura placing the trades on CME Globex. The exchange published the announcement on August 25, five days after the trades themselves took place.

The contract's underlying structure, a U.S. duty-paid, physically settled listing under COMEX rules, was updated back in March 2026, so the August 20 trades mark the first activity under that structure rather than the contract's original debut. CME framed the move around what Jin Hennig, the exchange's Managing Director and Global Head of Metals, described as the U.S. zinc market increasingly moving "to its own dynamics, driven by domestic policy and supply security."

Glencore and Trafigura, two of the world's largest physical metal trading houses, were the counterparties on the inaugural trades, though neither is listed on a U.S. exchange. CME said the contract is meant to give participants what Hennig called "a precise tool to manage their exposure" to U.S.-specific zinc pricing risk, positioned as a complement to the London Metal Exchange's longstanding global zinc benchmark rather than a replacement for it.

Analysts will be watching whether trading volume and open interest build beyond this first trade, and whether other major zinc producers, consumers, or trading houses follow Glencore and Trafigura onto CME Globex. No contract size, volume, or price figures specific to the zinc contract have been disclosed. CME did release volume figures for other metals and steel contracts alongside the zinc announcement, but those cover separate products and are not indicative of activity in the zinc contract itself.

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