China's Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) officially launched benzene futures on Tuesday, with benzene options to be launched later in the day.
The trading of futures and options for benzene, an important chemical raw material, has been green-lighted by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) on June 20.
At 9:00 Tuesday, benzene futures commenced trading on the DCE.
The first batch of listed contracts includes four varieties, with a trading unit of 30 tonnes per lot and a delivery unit of 30 tonnes, adopting physical delivery.
Experts say the the launch of benzene futures and options will furnish the industry with effective risk management tools and enhance China's say in pricing at global benzene market.
"The launch of benzene futures and options will fill the gap in risk management tools for raw materials in the aromatics industrial chain. Together with the already listed styrene futures and options, they will form a comprehensive hedging toolkit, more efficiently helping enterprises on the industrial chain to stabilize profits and maintain steady production and operations," said Yan Lin, senior manager of the DCE's Commodity Department.
Benzene is a crucial organic chemical raw material, closely linked to national economic development and public livelihoods.
Its upstream supply relies on two major energy sources - oil and coal, and its downstream applications span three key industries: synthetic resins, synthetic fibers, and synthetic rubber.
It is widely used in textiles, home appliances, tires, dyes, and other products.
China is the world's largest producer and consumer of benzene.
In 2024, China's benzene output reached 25.13 million tonnes, with apparent consumption hitting 29.26 million tonnes.
Its market scale has exceeded 208.6 billion yuan (about 29 billion U.S. dollars).
China launches benzene futures
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's official visit to China signals a policy shift towards building a more pragmatic relationship between the two countries, according to a Canadian researcher.
Carney arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to begin an official visit to China through Saturday, which marks the first trip by a Canadian Prime Minister to the country in eight years.
Robert Hanlon, director and principal investigator of Canada and the Asia Pacific Policy Project (CAPPP) at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, told the China Global Television Network (CGTN) that Carney's visit indicates Canada is recalibrating its strategic perception of China, which could cement the foundation for the country's economic diversification efforts and boost the development of bilateral cooperation.
"I think it's a clear message that he has moved Canada's strategy to a much more pragmatic, interest-based, -focused relationship with our trading partners, moving away from values-based narratives that we might have heard on previous governments. Canada has spoken about moving from what the Prime Minister's Office is calling "from reliance to resilience", and that means diversifying our economies and our trade everywhere in the world. And so China being our second largest trading partner, it makes perfect sense for our PM to head to Beijing," he said.
The scholar also noted the huge cooperation potential between the two sides in economic and trade fields, citing Canada's efforts to step up shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the planned construction of an oil pipeline in Alberta which aims to increase export access to Asian markets. "Canada and China both share tremendous economic opportunities together and so finding ways to enhance our exports. Canada specifically looking to build out its LNG and oil, kind of export market. We know Canada is a major producer of critical minerals and China is a buyer. And so there's a lot of synergy between that kind of those kind of markets," he said.
Canadian PM's visit to China paves way for more pragmatic trade ties: scholar
