China has been the most powerful force in world commodity markets for a decade, as the biggest importer of many substances and a huge producer of others. How does this square with the secluded, even staid nature of its commodity futures markets, which are all but closed to foreign traders? As Agnieszka Troszkiewicz discovers, determined foreign firms can play in China’s markets, and there is much to commend in the authorities’ slow but steady approach.
Three commodity exchanges in different cities, with a handful of futures contracts between them. Innovation is stifled and foreign participation all but barred. Yet this is the most exciting futures market in the world – China.
Millions of trades are conducted every month, and the Chinese futures market grew phenomenally last year – at one of the fastest rates in the world.
In 2008, the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange...