NYSE Liffe 2011 commodity trading volume up 24 pct

LONDON Jan 16 (Reuters) - Trading in NYSE Liffe commodity derivatives rose by 24 percent in volume in 2011 to a record 20.7 million contracts, the exchange said in a statement on Monday.

The increase was driven partly by higher volumes for Paris-based milling wheat and rapeseed futures as well as London-based cocoa futures and robusta coffee futures. There was also a sharp increase in robusta coffee options volume.

The volume of milling wheat futures rose by 30 percent to 5.7 million contracts, while rapeseed climbed by 59 percent to 1.9 million contracts.

There was also a 11 percent rise in cocoa futures volumes to 9.1 million contracts and a 16 percent jump in robusta coffee futures to 4.1 million.

White sugar was the only major futures contract to show a decline, dropping 19 percent to 1.5 million.

Options volumes were also higher, with the exception of white sugar. Robusta coffee showed the largest rise of 86 percent to nearly 900,000 contracts.