RBD palm olein options were listed on Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) on June 18, 2021, with overseas traders introduced to trading at the same time. As China's first commodity options product open to international participants, RBD palm olein optionshave operated smoothly throughout the five years sincethe listing. Industrial enterprises have maintained orderlyparticipation, while the market has continued to enhance itsfunction performance.
Over the past five years, the liquidity and market scale of RBD palm olein options have grown steadily. Statistics show that the average daily trading volume of RBD palm olein options jumped from 71,000 lots in 2021 to 205,000 lots in 2026 (based on data as of the close of trading on June 17, the same below), an increase of 190%. Average daily open interest rose from 116,000 lots in 2021 to 170,000 lots in 2026, up 46%. The ratio of options trading volume to futures trading volume grew from 7% in 2021 to 32% in 2026, an increase of 25 percentage points, while the ratio of options open interest to futures open interest rose from 18% to 29%, up 11 percentage points.
During this period, RBD palm olein options maintained a strong linkage with the underlying futures. The implied volatility rate of the dominant option series moved closely in line with the historical volatility rate of the underlying futures. In particular, following DCE’s optimization of the options contract rules, which includes “postponing the last trading day” and “adopting a listing arrangement with denser strike intervals for near-term options and wider intervals for longer-dated options”, liquidity in the near-month RBD palm olein options contracts became further concentrated and improved. These enhancements have better met the trading needs of industry participants and further strengthened the market functions of the options market.
After the simultaneous introduction of overseas traders upon its listing, as well as its inclusion in the range of products accessible to Qualified Foreign Investors (QFIs) on September 2, 2022, DCE has established two channels of opening up to international participants for RBD palm olein options. According to statistics, 29 overseas clients from seven countries, including Singapore, Australia, and the United Kingdom, have participated in the trading of RBD palm olein options. As a result, the international influence of RBD palm olein options and their capacity to serve the global oils industry have continued to strengthen.
Palm oil is the most widely consumed vegetable oil globally and also the largest imported vegetable oil in China. In recent years, palm oil prices have attracted heightened attention due to multiple factors, including adjustments in exporting countries’ policies, geopolitical conflicts, crude oil price linkages, and fluctuations in domestic demand. From January to May in 2026, the average daily implied volatility rate of RBD palm olein options reached 23%, the highest among domestic oil options products. Against this backdrop, the hedging value of RBD palm olein options for the industry has become increasingly prominent. In addition to traditional futures hedging, palm oil enterprises can also flexibly select appropriate options strategies to manage risk based on their own assessment of risk exposure, thereby further enhancing corporate resilience against market volatility.
