WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Jan. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- ICE Futures Canada, Canada's leading agricultural exchange and a subsidiary of IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE), announced the successful introduction of its new milling wheat futures contract, which began trading today.

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Said Terry James, Vice President, Export Marketing at Richardson International: "We participated in the new milling wheat and durum markets with orders on Sunday evening, and were pleased that we were able to close some transactions during the business day on Monday." Winnipeg-based Richardson International is Canada's largest privately-owned agribusiness.

"ICE Futures Canada is pleased to meet the long-standing demand by Canadian farmers and wheat market participants for a benchmark contract product to serve the global wheat market," said Brad Vannan, President and Chief Operating Officer of ICE Futures Canada. "We appreciate the participation of the industry in these new futures contracts and we look forward to growing the market."

The return of wheat futures trading to Canada after nearly 70 years follows enactment of Federal legislation ending the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly for sales and marketing of Canadian wheat and barley in the export and human-consumption markets as of August 1, 2012. Canada is a leading global exporter of wheat and the world's largest supplier of durum wheat. A webinar on the new grain futures contracts, including a market overview, is available at https://www.theice.com/grains.

Founded in 1887 as the Winnipeg Grain and Produce Exchange, the exchange later became the Winnipeg Commodities Exchange and was acquired by ICE in 2007.

About IntercontinentalExchange

IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE) is a leading operator of regulated futures exchanges and over-the-counter markets for agricultural, credit, currency, emissions, energy and equity index contracts. ICE Futures Europe hosts trade in half of the world's crude and refined oil futures. ICE Futures U.S. and ICE Futures Canada list agricultural, currencies and Russell Index markets. ICE is also a leading operator of central clearing services for the futures and over-the-counter markets, with five regulated clearing houses across North America and Europe. ICE serves customers in more than 70 countries. www.theice.com

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Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 - Statements in this press release regarding IntercontinentalExchange's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see ICE's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors in ICE's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, as filed with the SEC on February 9, 2011 and ICE's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2011, as filed with the SEC on August 3, 2011.

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SOURCE IntercontinentalExchange