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BIZCHINA / News
Preparations on for rice futures
By Wang Lan (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-15 11:16
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Customers buy rice at a supermarket in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang
Province.
Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE) said it is preparing for the launch of
rice futures.
Zhang Jing, assistant to the general manager of ZCE, said: "Rice futures
would be among the next futures products we are going to introduce in the
years to come."
"Rice futures are in the research stage and the target date has not yet
been decided," said Wei Zhenxiang, director of ZCE's research department.
Related readings:
?Palm oil futures likely this year
?New futures likely soon
?Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange gears up for rapeseed oil trade
Industrial analysts said the introduction of rice futures would help
stabilize the price movement in the spot market and provide guidance to
the growers to arrange planting.
Mao Xiaofei, a senior analyst on agricultural produce futures at China
International Futures Co Ltd, said the prospective rice futures means a
lot to Chinese people, for rice is the most important staple for the
Chinese and is always in great demand.
Figures compiled by China Oil and Food Net show the planting area for
paddy this year is expected to reach 29.30 million hectares, up 0.7
percent from the year before, and the output is estimated to increase
3.32 percent to 186 million tons from a year earlier.
In the first six months of 2007, China's import of rice plummeted 36.3
percent to 238 thousand tons year-on-year and the export figure was
601,000 tons, remaining at the same level as a year earlier, according to
statistics from the General Administration of Customs.
The average price of early indica rice has increased from 2,120 yuan to
2,360 yuan per ton since last year.
Industry analysts said the upcoming rice futures market would protect
growers and traders from risks resulting from unpredictable price
fluctuations caused by bad weather.
"A rice futures market may help establish a pricing system that may
properly reflect the supply and demand situation in the spot market and
provide the barometer for rice growers and traders," said Li Jingyuan, an
analyst at Hai Fu Futures Co.
"The domestic pricing system would also strengthen China's links with the
international rice market and increase the country's influence in price
discovery in the global market," said Ma of China International Futures
(Shanghai) Co.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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