China's crude oil futures trading has risen steadily

On January 4, the latest data from the Shanghai International Energy Exchange Center showed that the scale of crude oil futures in China will increase steadily in 2021, and the overall operation will be stable, with the cumulative trading volume of crude oil futures reaching 42.
6452 million lots, a year-on-year increase of 2.
55%; The cumulative turnover was 18.
50 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 54.
63%.

According to the data, as of December 31, 2021, there were 75 overseas intermediaries registered by the Shanghai International Energy Exchange Center, and overseas customers were distributed in more than 20 countries and regions
on six continents, including Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, South America and Oceania.

On March 26, 2018, Shanghai International Energy Exchange officially launched medium-quality sour crude oil futures
.
This is the first RMB-denominated and settled crude oil futures listed in China, and it is also the first international futures product
in China that allows foreign investors to directly participate.
It not only improves China's financial market and opens a new chapter in the opening of China's financial market, but also enhances the influence of the Asian crude oil futures market, which is a key step in establishing China's pricing power in the world crude oil market, which is of national strategic significance
.

The launch of China's crude oil futures can not only meet the needs of the incremental market to improve the pricing mechanism, better reflect the supply and demand pattern of crude oil in Asia, but also provide convenience
such as hedging for crude oil investors.
At the same time, by choosing medium sour crude oil, which accounts for about 44% of global oil production, as the delivery target, China's crude oil futures have filled the gap
in the intermediate oil futures market.

Since the listing of China's crude oil futures, the trading volume has risen steadily, giving full play to its price discovery and risk management and control functions, which has become increasingly important and the number of domestic and foreign traders has increased
.
The current market size has surpassed the Oman crude oil futures on the Dubai Mercantile Exchange to become the world's third largest crude oil trading futures after Brent and WTI
.
At the same time, China's crude oil futures are increasingly closely linked with the production, trade and processing enterprises in the upper, middle and downstream of the industrial chain, and the function of the service entity is obvious, which has become one of the effective means for
domestic and foreign oil-related enterprises to cope with risks.

At present, the influence of China's crude oil futures is gradually increasing, but the gap between them and WTI and Brent crude oil futures still exists
.

Industry insiders pointed out that on the one hand, China's crude oil futures are currently limited to domestic delivery warehouses, which are highly similar to crude oil futures varieties in the Asia-Pacific region, and should promote the internationalization of China's crude oil futures by building overseas warehouses and participating in overseas physical delivery, improve the influence of China's crude oil futures in the international crude oil futures market, and gradually promote China's crude oil futures to become the Asian crude oil pricing benchmark
.
On the other hand, during the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the price linkage between China's crude oil futures market and the spot market has been strengthened, but China's crude oil futures also need to improve the anti-risk ability of
the energy spot market.
It is recommended that the government provide more preferential treatment and convenience for relevant crude oil entities to participate, let relevant enterprises in the crude oil industry chain participate in the formation of crude oil futures prices, strengthen the connection between the futures spot market, expand the influence of China's crude oil futures on the spot market, and use their price discovery function on the spot market, so as to further improve the anti-risk ability of
the energy spot market.

At the same time, enterprises related to the crude oil industry chain should pay close attention to the changes in Brent crude oil futures prices and China's crude oil futures prices, as well as the development and changes of the epidemic situation, do a good job in hedging strategies, and avoid huge losses
caused by sharp fluctuations in crude oil spot prices.
At the same time, it uses information such as the spot market to respond to emergencies, adjust production and operation strategies in a timely manner according to the company's own situation, and ensure the smooth operation of
enterprise business activities.