Although the Project A futures trading system enabled them to hedge positions on CBOT during Asian business hours, low liquidity prevented them from using the system actively, they said.

"If the trading volume grows in the future, it would become easier to use and that would increase volume further. We are hopeful," said a trader at a major Japanese importer.

The four-year-old Project A system is used sporadically in Asia both through on-line terminals scattered across the region and by phone, traders said.

Traders in Sydney said Australian use of the Project A was confined to about 10 organisations including the wheat board, state-based grain organisations and some of the larger futures brokers.

In Japan, some traders said the automated system was convenient when fluctuations in the dollar/yen exchange rate were drastic or when the paceof domestic business accelerated unexpectedly.

The trader at the Japanese importer, however, said his company used the CBOT day session to hedge almost 100 percent of the corn it handled, and was wary of using Project A because of the thin volume.

"It's scary to place an order into Project A because the market could move drastically if we do so. We can only sell or buy in line with the volume," he said.

For instance, on Tuesday, the CBOT said its Project A overnight agricultural futures and options trading volume included 75 wheat, 610 corn and 413 soybean contracts.

The figures can be compared with 35,000 wheat, 54,000 corn and 40,000 soybean contracts traded on CBOT later that day.

Traders in Taiwan said grain buyers there usually place 54,000 tonnes or about 400 lots of futures orders -- a size that would be too large for Project A to process efficiently in one order.

Therefore, for the time being, the automated trading system is principally used as a price indicator, they said.

"Prices onelectronic trading have been working as a benchmark when we hold grain and oilseed tenders," said a trader with Korea's National Livestock Cooperatives Federation.

Fluctuations in the Project A are usually determined by factors in the physical market, such as tenders, private purchases by traders and weather conditions.

Although traders agreed the electronic system would retain its position as an indicator as well as a hedging tool when necessary, some said they did not expect a significant rise in trading volume in the near future.

"These days news and real-time information travel around the world at all Times, so there is no urgent need to buy and sell in Project A unless something really unexpected takes place," said a trader at a foreign grain firm in Tokyo.