Stock market operator NZX says it is not concerned about a rival Chicago-based futures market that lets people and firms manage the volatility in dairy prices.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, or CME, says it will trade futures and options on international skimmed milk powder from 9 May.
NZX plans to have its own dairy derivates market operating about September this year, using dairy cooperative Fonterra's monthly online auction as a base.
NZX chief executive Mark Weldon says CME's move indicates the growing importance of dairy products globally, and the lack of tools to manage the risk of price volatility.
But Mr Weldon says that is where the similarity ends between NZX's and CME's approaches.
"Ours is a very simple product - it's cash settled whole milk powder. The CME product is very, very complex and it involves a whole bunch of very detailed shipping port logistics, food safety measurements and tacking requirements where someone actually has to physically want to get a particular thing at a particular point in time."
"The universe of potential users of our product, which is set against a reference price - the Fonterra global dairy trade - is masses wider than the potential universe of users of the CME product."
