In the designing of the Futures contract rules, the designing of the quality standards of the standard delivery products, one of the key parts, has an impact on the safe operation and functioning of the market. At the workshop on the futures of the “two boards” held in Dalian yesterday, an official of the agricultural products business division of Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) said that with the thickness and formaldehyde emission, etc. as important indicators, the design of the quality standards of the standard delivery products of the fiberboard and the plywood futures has set a system of indicators including appearance quality, size, density and deviation, moisture content, physical and mechanical properties and formaldehyde emission, etc., in a bid to effectively respond to the relevant industrial policies and support the upgrading of China’s fiberboard and plywood industries.
According to the official, with the thickness as an important indicator of the fiberboard and the plywood, among the medium density fiberboards (MDFs), the 15mm and 18mm-thick MDFs for furniture have the largest market size of over RMB 40 billion with an output of about 25 million cubic meters (or 550 million sheets) and 90% of the products meeting the requirements for superior products of national standards. The outputs of the 15mm and 18mm-thick MDFs are 15 million cubic meters (or about 330 million sheets) and 10 million cubic meters (or about 220 million sheets) respectively with the market sizes of RMB 23.5 billion and RMB 18 billion respectively; among the block boards, the 15mm and 18mm-thick block boards have the largest market size of over RMB 40 billion with an output of about 14.2 million cubic meters, accounting for 70% of the total output of the block board. Considering that the 15mm-thick boards among both the “two boards” take a larger share and are an important reference of pricing for products of other specifications, DCE has set the 15mm-thick MDF and block board (size: 2.44m × 1.22m) for furniture as the standard delivery products and the 18mm-thick MDF and block board (size: 2.44m × 1.22m) for furniture as the alternative delivery products.
The official said that selecting the 18mm-thick products as the alternative delivery products is mainly for the purpose of increasing the amount of the products available for delivery and preventing the delivery risks. Considering the difference of the costs of the raw materials for the 15mm-thick and 18mm-thick products and with reference to the spreads of the fiberboards and block boards of different thicknesses in different production and sales areas in China, DCE has set the premiums of RMB 6 / sheet and RMB 15 / sheet for the 18mm-thick MDF and block board respectively.
The level of the formaldehyde emission limit is also an important indicator affecting the distinction of the product grades and the product price. The official said that China’s compulsory standard GB18580 related to the formaldehyde emissions for the artificial board industry stipulates that formaldehyde emission indicators for fiberboard are E1 (≤ 9mg / 100g, with a stricter requirement of ≤ 8mg / 100g for the indicator for the MDF in the national standard GB/T11718) and E2 (≤ 30mg / 100g), and the indicators of formaldehyde emission for the block board produced by the desiccators method are E1 (≤ 1.5mg / L) and E2 (≤ 5mg / L). However, the lower prices of the E2-level boards have resulted in the still large demand for the E2 boards on the spot market, especially on the rural markets which are dominated by the E2-level boards. Given the E2 standard is adapted to the international standard and reflects the trend of the industrial development in the future, DCE has set the E1 levels of the “two boards” as the standard levels of the formaldehyde emission limit. Considering the amount available for delivery and other factors, the E2-level products of the “two boards” are allowed in delivery, but with a significant discount of RMB 30 / sheet set for both products.
Moreover, other indicators of the futures of the “two boards” should meet the requirements of the national standards, for example, the defects such as layering, bubbling, carbonation and local softening are not allowed and the size deviation should be in the allowable range of the national standards.
Market participants said that the high standards for delivery quality set for the futures of the "two boards" will play an important role in standardizing and guiding the development of the industry in the future, help the competitive enterprises to enhance competitiveness and make themselves bigger and stronger, boost the energy saving and cost reducing in the industry, and are of great significance for environmental protection and improving the resource utilization.