Is it permitted to buy futures contracts of hogs? You are not actually buying pigs, but rather a piece of paper which says that if you hold it on a certain date, you will receive the hogs. If you sell it before that date, you will not receive them. Thanks.
Answer:
If this is an “options” trade, it is permitted to trade in non-kosher foods, because there is no actual trade in the foods themselves, but only a kind of “speculation” which does not involve any tangible food.
Even if there is a tangible food, but according to plan the buyer will not have any contact with it, there is room for leniency, though the transaction should preferable be avoided.
If the sale is arranged so that the futures will be sold automatically, and there is no chance of receiving the item, there won’t be any problem.
Note that if the seller is Jewish, there will be a problem of making the trade, because doing so will be considered taking part in a forbidden practice (for Jews to trade in non-kosher food).
For sources on this fairly complex question, please see our Hebrew site, here (at greater length) and here (more briefly).
