NEW YORK — Amid soaring egg and egg product prices in recent months, StoneX Group Inc. on April 1 launched a new over-the-counter shell egg contract that utilizes a global price reporting agency benchmark aimed at providing egg producers, buyers and food industry participants a tool to help manage price risk and volatility.

The new contract, which is 1,000 cases (30,000 dozen) of eggs, uses the Urner Barry by Expana Egg Index (referred to as a global price reporting agency) for Southeast US large, white shell eggs, said Ryan Turner, regional director of Kansas City ag at StoneX. The StoneX contract may be traded in various time increments up to 12 months forward, with StoneX working as a clearing house between bilateral parties. The contract is financially settled and does not provide for the physical delivery or reception of eggs, unlike some commodity futures contracts. There currently is no active egg futures contract in the United States, although cash egg prices also are reported by the US Department of Agriculture and a few other entities. Urner Barry egg prices typically are considered the industry standard.