New Futures Index Marks Further Opening Up

China marked the first anniversary of the trading of crude oil futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange （SHFE） by launching a crude oil futures index on March 26， in the countrys continued pursuit of higherlevel opening up.

The index is based on price movements and rate of return of the most actively traded crude futures contracts at the SHFE， with the aim of providing a clearer market refl ection of the futures continuous trading to investors at home and abroad.

The launch of crude oil futures trading last year was the first futures variety on the Chinese mainland open to overseas investors.

So far， over 40，000 accounts have been registered for the futures trading. Oil and chemical industry giants， commodity traders and investment companies are among the active traders.

According to the Shanghai International Energy Exchange （INE）， 52 overseas agencies have been registered， mainly from Chinas Hong Kong， Singapore， the UK， the Republic of Korea and Japan， serving customers from the UK， Australia， Switzerland， Singapore， Cyprus， the Seychelles， as well as Chinas Hong Kong and Taiwan.

By March 25， in terms of unilateral transactions， the total trading volume of Shanghai crude oil futures contracts at the INE hit 36.7 million lots， with a turnover of 17.12 trillion yuan （$2.55 trillion）.

On average， the daily trading volume was 151，000 lots， and a record maximum daily trading reached 359，786 lots， making China among the worlds most active crude oil futures trading markets.

SHFE said on March 26 that it will develop a crude oil exchange-traded fund in cooperation with stock exchanges and will develop other new products.

James Shekerdemian， head of Prime Services for Asia-Pacifi c at Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking， said the company has been tracking the contract prices of Shanghai crude oil futures over the year.

The fast-growing trading volume of Shanghai crude oil futures shows that contracts have been highly recognized by the market， Shekerdemian said.

Ding Jianping， head of the Center for the Study of Modern Finance at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics， said the launch of the crude oil futures index echoes a growing focus on Chinas crude oil futures at home and abroad.

China is the worlds largest crude oil importer. Since the launch of the Shanghai crude oil futures a year ago， futures con- tracts have been delivered seven times， with a total delivery volume of 7.2 million barrels. Related businesses such as trading， settlement， currency exchange， cross-border currency transfer and delivery in bonds have been handled， which have promoted overseas energy companies participation in the Chinese market.

Huang Yunzhi， an analyst with Industrial Securities Futures， said that with the participation of multinational oil companies， oil traders and investment banks， the Shanghai crude oil futures index can form a benchmark price reflecting the supplydemand situation in China and the AsiaPacifi c region at large.

China International United Petroleum & Chemicals Co. Ltd. signed contracts based on the prices of Shanghai crude oil futures with Shell and Chambroad Petrochemicals in March and October 2018， respectively.

Jiang Yan， head of SHFE， said Shanghai crude oil futures are interactive with peer contracts exchanged in the markets of European countries and the United States. Moreover， WTI and Brent crude oil transactions during the Asian trading period are more active since the launch of the Shanghai crude oil futures.

With the experience of the crude oil futures trading under its belt， China has gradually opened trading of iron ore futures and PTA （pure terephthalic acid） futures to overseas investors.

Rochelle Wei， CEO of J.P. Morgan Futures Co. Ltd.， said as China continues to open up its futures market and launch new varieties of products， the countrys market will play a more important role in the world market and more overseas investors will join in.