On the morning of December 6, the futures contracts of fiberboard and blockboard were successfully listed on Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) at the same time. The listing of the "two boards" will expand China's agricultural futures products to the new area of forestry industry, increasing the number of the futures products traded on DCE to 14 as well as the number of the products traded on China’s futures market to 40.
At the news conference on the two boards held on the morning that day, Liu Xingqiang, Chairman and Party Chief of DCE, said in his speech that fiberboard and blockboard are important timber products. As early as half a century ago, the international market saw the futures of timber products, and relevant attempts were made on the exchanges in the U.S., Japan, Malaysia and some of the Nordic countries, with the futures contracts listed on CME in the United States in 1969 as the most representative.
Liu said that in the early 1990s, China's futures market saw the plywood board futures listed, but as the market was not standardized and a few risk events occurred, leading to the delisting of the products. Today, 20 years later, the domestic timber industry structure has changed, with the fiberboard and plywood board consumption has shifted to mainly relying on domestic production instead of imports, having formed the foundation of spot goods for supporting the development of the futures market. More importantly, after nearly 20 years of development, China's futures market has seen a qualitative change, with the laws, regulations and systems constantly improved, the risk control ability continuously enhanced, regulatory capability significantly strengthened and the whole market entering a new stage of healthy and orderly development. With the strong support of all parties concerned, DCE has the confidence and ability to ensure the safe and sound operation and healthy development of the fiberboard and blockboard futures, making the “twin brothers” play a positive role in serving the industries and the national economic development.
At the news conference, Sun Jian, Deputy Director of the Development Planning and Funds Management Division of State Forestry Administration, extended congratulations on the successful listing of the fiberboard and blockboard futures on behalf of the timber management departments. Shi Feng, Secretary-General of the China National Forest Product Industry Association (CNFPIA), said that blockboard and fiberboard are the two largest varieties of artificial board, and the listing of the two futures products is of great significance for the artificial board industry or even the entire forestry industry. First, the listing of the “two boards” futures provides an instrument of price discovery for the industry, which helps the enterprises arrange for the production and sales in a planned way; second, the listing will help the enterprises conduct hedging, avoid the risks of price fluctuations, and enhance ability to resist risks; third, through the listing of the “two boards” futures, we will promote advanced management and standardization, guide the scale development of the artificial board industry and boost the overall industrial upgrading. He also said that the CNFPIA will join hands with DCE to continue to strengthen cooperation, make concerted efforts and give full play to the role of the futures market in serving the industry. It was also hoped that more and more artificial board producers could pay attention to and participate in the futures market, properly make use of the hedging instruments and achieve the sustainable and healthy development of the enterprise.
At the news conference, Shi Bin, a section chief of No. 1 Futures Division of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), read out the “Official Reply on Listing Fiberboard and Blockboard Futures Contracts on Dalian Commodity Exchange” issued by the CSRC. Cao Aihua, Executive Vice Mayor of Dalian, inaugurated the listing of the fiberboard and blockboard futures contracts.
Li Zhengqiang, CEO of DCE, hosted the news conference on the listing of the fiberboard and blockboard futures. Attending the news conference were the representatives from relevant national ministries and commissions, local governments, industry organizations, timber processing enterprises, and trading, warehousing and inspection agencies as well as the reporters from more than 30 media organizations at home and abroad.