After 130 years of trading spring wheat, the Minneapolis Grain Exchange is ready to welcome a new commodity: apple juice concentrate.

Why apple juice?

"It's pretty simple," said Rita Maloney, director of marketing and business development.

"We've launched our share of contracts, some successful, others not. What happened this time around is the industry came to us and said we are in need of your risk-management tools."

Turns out, companies in the apple juice industry were facing volatile markets and no easy way to hedge their risks. So they've teamed with MGEX to create an apple juice concentrate trading market, similar to the frozen concentrated orange juice contracts traded in New York. (Movie buffs may remember orange juice trading scenes from the 1983 comedy "Trading Places.")

In Minneapolis, apple juice concentrate hasn't begun trading and won't at least until summer. A series of regulatory and logistical hurdles must be cleared. But the exchange is hopeful, given the $3.2 billion worldwide apple juice market.

"It is an incredibly growing industry," Maloney said, as food and beverage companies seek to use apple juice as a drink, a sweetener or an ingredient.

Meanwhile, the grain-trading side of the Minneapolis exchange is growing, too. In 2008 the exchange switched to all-computerized trading, closing down its historic trading floor. Since last summer, tight wheat supplies have lured traders and sent grain prices climbing. On Monday, the May wheat contract rose 25 cents a bushel, to $9.14.

"This past February was the highest-volume month ever in the history of the exchange," Maloney said. "When you think of an exchange that's been around for 130 years, that's pretty good."

twincities.com