Rubber is second highest-traded commodity at SHFE

Guangdong, China - In 2014 the volume of natural rubber futures traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) reached 12.8 trillion (€1.9 trillion), second only to copper, according to a statement by the SHFE at the 2015 China Rubber Conference in April.

Rubber futures accounted for 20 percent of the exchange's total traded value during the year, added SHFE.

Last year also saw an accumulated total of 890 million tonnes in rubber contracts traded on SHFE (one side), up 22.3 percent from 2013 and 72 times the size of rubber trades on TOCOM. Hedged trading volume reached 5.2 million tonnes, up 238 percent from 2013.

Rubber futures pricing had an annualised volatility of 24 percent in 2014, showing a slight increase from the previous year, according to SHFE.

The rate of rubber positions held by entities dropped 2.3 percent to 21.5 percent in 2014, while their trade volume rose 2.6 percent.

"SHFE is trying to optimise the composition of its clients, and the degree of participation by entities is gradually increasing," said Pan Weichun, SHFE assistant to executive director of energy and chemicals.

SHFE started offering continuous trading services for rubber in December 2014, covering the trading time slots for relevant products on overseas exchanges. The volume of continuous trading has been taking up 21 percent of total rubber trades.

Another change in the exchange's stipulation will be the new charging standards for designated warehouses.

Starting from 1 Oct. 2015, warehouse entry and out charges for rubber will both be raised from 25 yuan (€3.8)/tonne to 30 yuan (€4.5)/tonne. The storage charge will also rise from 1 yuan/tonne each day to 1.3 yuan/tonne each day, with a newly added transfer fee at 1 yuan/tonne.

(Image source: SHFE)