Not wanting to be at the mercy of foreign suppliers, China’s leaders have positioned its futures markets to be major players in setting world prices for metal, energy and farm commodities, says The Wall Street Journal.
"It is true we have a long-term goal of increasing our influence in terms of pricing, but to do that we have to create conditions and do it step by step," Jiang Yang, chief futures-industry policy maker and assistant chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, told the Journal in an interview.
The newspaper defines futures as exchange-traded contracts that fix a price to buy or sell sugar, copper or oil a day, month or year in advance.
According to the Journal, Beijing believes hosting big futures markets will enhance the country's economic security by essentially advertising what the world's biggest customer for some commodities considers a fair price. For the rest of the world, the exchanges could mean less guesswork about China's buying habits, possibly reducing volatility in the global market.
