Over 65 million lots of crude oil futures have been transferred with a turnover of about 29.9 trillion yuan (about 4.22 trillion U.S. dollars) since China launched the futures on March 26, 2018, making it the world's third-largest crude oil futures contract.
On average, the daily trading volume reached 142,000 lots and the daily open interest volume was 28,800 lots in 2019. The latter rose to 120,000 lots recently, the highest since the launch of the futures.
"Shanghai crude oil futures have played the role of regional benchmark pricing, reflected the impact of COVID-19 and helped hedge risks," said She Jianyue, assistant to the general manager of the First Futures Company.
According to She, the price differences between months have reflected the market's short-term negative estimation and long-term positive outlook, and recent increases in open interest volume have indicated that the futures have been used to preserve the value of the commodities and hedge risks.
Liu Yong, a manager with Shandong Chambroad Petrochemicals Co., Ltd., pointed to the high volatility of the world's commodity prices since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic.
"Despite the shrinking market demand at present, the company is using the contracts to transfer related production capacity to the future and lock the profits."
According to the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the crude oil futures have witnessed and withstood price swings caused by geopolitical and other extreme events since their launch. Nearly 20.5 million barrels have been delivered with a turnover of 9.07 billion yuan.
As the first futures listed on China's mainland to overseas investors, over 100,000 accounts from home and abroad have registered for the futures trading by the end of 2019.
Jiang Yan, head of the Shanghai Futures Exchange, said China's crude oil futures have played a positive role in promoting the formation of the benchmark price of crude oil in Asia.
"We will further improve the trading rules and regulations, improve the operation mechanism, optimize the structure of investors and further expand opening-up," said Jiang.
Editor:Cherie
