SHANGHAI: China will accelerate the rollout of new commodity futures and options including natural gas, refined oil and peanuts as it sets out to develop its derivatives market amid increasing demand, a senior securities regulator said on Saturday.

Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, told a forum in Shenzhen that a planned expansion of China’s capital markets would require a more sophisticated financial derivatives market.

“Currently, China’s financial futures and options market is at an early stage of development,” Fang said in a speech published by the China Futures Association.

“It far lags market participants’ growing needs to manage their risks. It also fails to keep pace with China’s economic development and financial re­­forms.”

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2020