Chinese futures trading surges

The Chinese futures market is on a fast-track of growth this year as disappointed investors from stock bourses are eyeing the "future" to hold up the value of their investment, new figures have indicated.

The combined turnover of futures trading in the world's largest economy totalled 151.98 trillion yuan (24.17 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first 11 months of 2012, up 19.69 percent from the previous year, according to data released on Sunday by the China Futures Association (CFA).

November's turnover expanded 26.81 percent year on year to 17.24 trillion yuan. The figure is 13.75 percent higher than October.

Soybean was the driving force of the bullish market as international soybean prices have gone through a roller-coaster journey resulting from the changing yield forecast in the United States that firstly slumped and then recovered in recent months.

Data from the CFA showed that soybean-related futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, one of the four largest exchanges in China, achieved six-fold growth year on year in the Jan.-Nov. period, accounting for 12.3 percent of the futures market's aggregated turnover.

Apart from soybean, the turnover of futures of coke, a key input in steel manufacturing, increased by 11 times over the first 11 months.

In sharp contrast, the Chinese stock market suffered this year with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dipping to 1,963.49 on Thursday, a new low since early 2009. It rebounded on Friday to end at 1,980.12.