Commodity trading in China

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Commodity trading in China has a short but high-growth history. With an increasing product variety and deepening liquidity pools, the mainland's futures market is playing an increasingly important role in serving the national economy.

Contents

At present, the commodity markets in China are still in a development stage, with only a few exchanges in China trading in a small group of commodities. In the next few years, the Chinese government will gradually allow more commodities products to be traded in China along with various related derivatives.

Size

Trading volume of the nation's three commodity futures exchanges totaled 40.97 trillion yuan in 2007, up 95% from the year before. The aggregate trading volume of these exchanges amounted to 728.46 million hands in 2007, up 62% over the previous year. More than half of the transactions took place on the Dalian bourse, while turnover on the Shanghai bourse amounted to 23 trillion yuan, accounting for half of the total.

The boom of large trading market across the country has contributed to the increased flow of vegetables and fruit from south to north and west to east and promoted the country's commercialization of agricultural products.

Development

The demand for commodity futures as hedging tools has been on the rise as the Chinese economy continues to advance at a brisk pace. The country is now one of the largest producers and consumers of a wide range of commodities, including oil, steel, copper, corn, wheat and soybean. To diversify their product ranges, the nation's three commodity futures exchanges are doing research to introduce new contracts.

For example, the Shanghai bourse plans to launch new contracts on nickel, silver and steel futures in the coming years. The Zhengzhou bourse is preparing to launch early long-grain non-glutinous rice futures, while the Dalian bourse is preparing to introduce hog futures to protect hog breeders from being exposed to sharp price swings.

As a major producer and consumer of commodities, China has large potential for developing its futures market. China's commodity futures markets have expanded product ranges and deepened liquidity pools to cater to the increasingly diverse needs of the nation's rapidly growing economy.

With increasing volatility in global commodity markets and prices, companies have been expanding their agricultural product, precious/base metal, fuel oil and other commodity-related investments in China.

Exchanges

There are three commodity exchanges in China after the merger of 50 exchanges into 14 in 1995 and subsequently into three in 1999.

The China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFEX), the country's first financial futures exchange, was inaugurated in October 2006. The long-awaited CSI300, the first mainland stock index futures, will be traded on this bourse, which is working to the launch.

See also

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Commodity market

A commodity market is a market that trades in the primary economic sector rather than manufactured products, such as cocoa, fruit and sugar. Hard commodities are mined, such as gold and oil. Futures contracts are the oldest way of investing in commodities. Futures are secured by physical assets. Commodity markets can include physical trading and derivatives trading using spot prices, forwards, futures, and options on futures. Farmers have used a simple form of derivative trading in the commodity market for centuries for price risk management.

Commodity Fungible item produced to satisfy wants or needs

In economics, a commodity is an economic good that has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them.

Futures exchange Central financial exchange where people can trade standardized futures contracts

A futures exchange or futures market is a central financial exchange where people can trade standardized futures contracts defined by the exchange. Futures contracts are derivatives contracts to buy or sell specific quantities of a commodity or financial instrument at a specified price with delivery set at a specified time in the future. Futures exchanges provides physical or electronic trading venues, details of standardized contracts, market and price data, clearing houses, exchange self-regulations, margin mechanisms, settlement procedures, delivery times, delivery procedures and other services to foster trading in futures contracts. Futures exchanges can be organized as non-profit member-owned organizations or as for-profit organizations. Futures exchanges can be integrated under the same brand name or organization with other types of exchanges, such as stock markets, options markets, and bond markets. Non-profit member-owned futures exchanges benefit their members, who earn commissions and revenue acting as brokers or market makers. For-profit futures exchanges earn most of their revenue from trading and clearing fees.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange Financial and commodity derivative exchange located in Chicago, Illinois, United States

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is a global derivatives marketplace based in Chicago and located at 20 S. Wacker Drive. The CME was founded in 1898 as the Chicago Butter and Egg Board, an agricultural commodities exchange. Originally, the exchange was a non-profit organization. The Merc demutualized in November 2000, went public in December 2002, and merged with the Chicago Board of Trade in July 2007 to become a designated contract market of the CME Group Inc., which operates both markets. The chairman and chief executive officer of CME Group is Terrence A. Duffy, Bryan Durkin is president. On August 18, 2008, shareholders approved a merger with the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. CME, CBOT, NYMEX, and COMEX are now markets owned by CME Group. After the merger, the value of the CME quadrupled in a two-year span, with a market cap of over $25 billion.

The foreign exchange market is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. It includes all aspects of buying, selling and exchanging currencies at current or determined prices. In terms of trading volume, it is by far the largest market in the world, followed by the credit market.

Shanghai Stock Exchange Stock exchange in Shanghai, China

The Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) is a stock exchange based in the city of Shanghai, China. It is one of the two stock exchanges operating independently in mainland China, the other being the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The Shanghai Stock Exchange is the world's 4th largest stock market by market capitalization at US$4.0 trillion as of November 2018. Unlike the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the Shanghai Stock Exchange is still not entirely open to foreign investors and often affected by the decisions of the central government, due to capital account controls exercised by the Chinese mainland authorities.

Special economic zones of China

Special economic zones (SEZs) in mainland China are granted more free market-oriented economic policies and flexible governmental measures by the government of China, compared to the planned economy elsewhere. This allows SEZs to utilize economic management which is more attractive to foreign and domestic businesses. In SEZs, "...foreign and domestic trade and investment are conducted without the authorization of the Chinese central government in Beijing" with "tax and business incentives to attract foreign investment and technology".

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Holding company of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Ltd. and Hong Kong Futures Exchange Ltd.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited operates a stock market and futures market in Hong Kong through its wholly owned subsidiaries The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (SEHK) and Hong Kong Futures Exchange Limited (HKFE).

The Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) is a Chinese futures exchange based in Dalian, Liaoning province, China. It is a non-profit, self-regulating and membership legal entity established on February 28, 1993.

Euronext Paris Securities market located in Paris, France

Euronext Paris is France's securities market, formerly known as the Paris Bourse, which merged with the Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Brussels exchanges in September 2000 to form Euronext NV, which is the second largest exchange in Europe behind the United Kingdom's London Stock Exchange Group.

Exchange (organized market) Highly organized trading market

An exchange, bourse, trading exchange or trading venue is an organized market where (especially) tradable securities, commodities, foreign exchange, futures, and options contracts are sold and bought.

The China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFEX), is a futures exchange established in Shanghai on September 8, 2006—with the approval of the State Council and the authorization of China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). It is a joint venture of the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange, Dalian Commodity Exchange, Shanghai Stock Exchange, Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange

Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange was an electronic commodities exchange established in Hong Kong for the trading of commodity futures, options and other financial derivatives. The exchange was originally pitched as a platform to trade oil futures. In fact, it ended up trading mainly silver and gold futures.

LCH is a British clearing house group that serves major international exchanges, as well as a range of OTC markets. The LCH Group consists of two subsidiaries: LCH Ltd and LCH SA. Based on 2012 figures, LCH cleared approximately 50% of the global interest rate swap market, and was the second largest clearer of bonds and repos in the world, providing services across 13 government debt markets. In addition, LCH clears a broad range of asset classes including: commodities, securities, exchange traded derivatives, credit default swaps, energy contracts, freight derivatives, interest rate swaps, foreign exchange and Euro and Sterling denominated bonds and repos.

Globalization in China discusses the history of globalization in China; including the economic, social, cultural influences that have been integrated into Chinese society.

Moscow Exchange

Moscow Exchange, the largest exchange group in Russia, operates trading markets in equities, bonds, derivatives, the foreign exchange market, money markets and precious metals. The Moscow Exchange Group also operates Russia's central securities depository and the country's largest clearing service provider . The exchange is a result of December 2011 merger of the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange (MICEX) and the Russian Trading System. In April 2018, Moscow Exchange signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Shanghai Gold Exchange.

Futures markets in mainland China, initially deployed in 1990, have quickly established rapid growth as a result of transition to a market economy.

Since the late-2000s, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has sought to internationalize its official currency, the Renminbi (RMB). RMB internationalization accelerated in 2009 when China established the dim sum bond market and expanded Cross-Border Trade RMB Settlement Pilot Project, which helps establish pools of offshore RMB liquidity. In 2013, the RMB was the 8th most traded currency in the world and the 7th most traded in early 2014. By the end of 2014, RMB has ranked 5th as the most traded currency, according to SWIFT's report, at 2.2% of SWIFT payment behind JPY (2.7%), GBP (7.9%), EUR (28.3%) and USD (44.6%). In February 2015, RMB became the second most used currency for trade and services, and reached the ninth position in forex trading. The RMB Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII) quotas were also extended to other five countries — the UK, Singapore, France, Korea, Germany, and Canada, each with the quotas of ¥80bn except Canada and Singapore (¥50bn). Previously, only Hong Kong was allowed, with a ¥270bn quota.

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