Palm oil futures "speed up" the process of internationalization, the industry hopes to increase its price influence

On November 20, China Securities Regulatory Commission officially announced that it determined that the palm oil futures in Dalian Commodity Exchange were designated as the domestic varieties. As a result, palm oil futures became the seventh domestic futures market and the first domestic specific product in the listed agricultural futures. "The approval of palm oil futures as a specific domestic product that is open to the world is another important step for China's futures market to open to the world and serve global industrial enterprises. It is conducive to continuously consolidate the achievements of the futures market opening to the world, effectively enhance the global pricing power of China's futures market, and further enhance the ability and level of China's futures market to serve the global industrial chain." A relevant market person said in an interview with a reporter from the Grain News.

More than ten years listed on the market, palm oil futures gain a lot.

Palm oil is the world's largest vegetable oil variety with the largest international trade volume. The main producing areas are Southeast Asia and Africa. In 2019, global palm oil production exceeded 70 million tons, accounting for about one-third of global vegetable oil production. In 2019, palm oil consumption was about 71 million tons. China's palm oil is all dependent on imports. It is currently the world's second largest importer and third largest consumer of palm oil. In 2019, China's palm oil consumption exceeded 6.4 million tons, of which 60% came from Indonesia and 30% came from Malaysia.

Palm oil futures were listed on DCE in 2007 and are China's first fully imported commodity futures. Since its listing for more than ten years, the market has been operating steadily, and DCE has developed into the world's largest palm oil futures market. Statistics show that from 2009 to 2019, the annual trading volume of palm oil futures has been at the forefront of China's agricultural futures market for many consecutive years. In 2019, the trading volume was 135 million lots, equivalent to 1.35 billion tons, and the average daily open interest was 420,000 lots, equivalent to 4.2 million tons. The trading volume ranked the third in the country’s agricultural product futures. Calculated on a comparable basis, it is 5.77 times the trading volume of Malaysian Derivatives Exchange (hereinafter referred to as BMD). In the first half of this year, DCE's palm oil futures trading volume ranked second in the global agricultural futures options market, and its influence is increasing.

Palm oil futures have provided many companies engaged in foreign trade with tools to avoid risks. A domestic foreign-funded food company is planning to add production and storage equipment. The person in charge of the company told reporters: "After the project is completed, the company's palm oil trade volume will greatly increase. The company has a large number of raw grain bases in foreign production areas, so it needs to increase investment in China to digest upstream products. The market this year is like a roller coaster. Companies are facing a lot of risk managements, mainly through domestic and foreign futures markets. Companies began to attach importance to the futures market after the 2008 financial crisis, mainly engaged in palm oil futures hedging."

It is understood that the import volume of palm oil companies currently using palm oil futures to hedge accounts for more than 85% of China’s import volume. Large oil companies in China and multinational grain and oil companies in China have made full use of palm oil futures to carry out hedging transactions. Palm oil futures have become an indispensable tool for risk management of these companies; the correlation coefficient of palm oil futures and spot prices is 0.99, 70% of domestic palm oil spot trade uses DCE's palm oil futures price for basis price pricing. Palm oil futures have become the benchmark for domestic spot trade pricing and have a profound impact on international market pricing.

Speed up the process of the internationalization and move forward at the right time

Palm oil is China’s fully imported commodity. After the internationalization of the futures market, its production, processing, and consumption will be opened up. Overseas customers can participate in BMD and DCE markets at the same time, which can better satisfy domestic and overseas palm oil production, processing and trade. The hedging needs of enterprises have formed a complete industrial risk management chain to help the "One Road and One Belt" industrial cooperation to move forward stably.

"Internationalization can bring tangible benefits to companies engaged in international palm oil trading. At present, international palm oil trading prices are mainly based on Malaysia market as a reference." In an interview with reporters, a domestic grain and oil trading company believed that for palm oil futures to be internationalized, pricing power is very important. For example, palm oil producing countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia mainly refer to Malaysia market. In fact, many of them are caused by historical habits.

The above-mentioned people suggested that the internationalization of palm oil futures also requires the participation of people from foreign origins, especially the participation of upstream growers and direct processing companies to attract them to participate in domestic futures market transactions. Through the “Belt and Road” initiative, it will connect with the local government and do enough effort in policies and systems to break through barriers. This will help more international industries to participate. "Covid-19 in this year has made palm oil prices weak in the early stage, but demand has been improving in the later period, resulting in palm oil prices rising." Talking about the palm oil market this year, the person in charge of a large domestic grain and oil processing company said.

The reporter learned during the interview that the company's annual palm oil imports have increased in recent years. Upon learning that DCE was preparing to introduce foreign traders to participate in palm oil futures, the person in charge thought, “This is not only helpful for foreign companies, but also for domestic companies like us, and this also can drive the trading volume of the domestic futures market. The pricing benchmark will shift to the domestic market, and the futures market will play a better role in price discovery."

The person in charge said that after the introduction of foreign traders, futures prices will add the relevant information of the origin, can more fully reflect the market, and will also provide companies with more effective hedging tools.

During the interview, the reporter learned that many market participants also believe that for the futures market, as more and more foreign companies such as international palm oil processing and trading companies participate, it can promote the deep integration of domestic, foreign and futures palm oil markets. At the same time, it will help palm oil futures contracts to be active in recent months and improve the continuous of the most active traded contracts, improve the efficiency and liquidity of the palm oil futures market, optimize the market structure, and further improve the quality of market operation and development, this can better serve the global palm oil industry enterprises with the risk management services.

“DCE has officially launched the internationalization of palm oil futures since 2016. After full research on domestic and foreign markets, continuous improvement and improvement based on the opinions of all parties in the market have formed an internationalization program widely recognized by the market.” According to DCE, the person in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture revealed that the international trading, settlement, and risk control of palm oil futures adopt the current methods of specific domestic varieties such as iron ore. The original contract and basic system remain unchanged, the core technical system remains unchanged, and the core clearing and the risk control mode remains unchanged. At present, DCE is actively preparing for the implementation of palm oil futures to introduce overseas traders to ensure the smooth acceptance of overseas traders and the stable operation of the market.

棕榈油期货“提速”国际化 业界盼提升价格影响力
11月20日，中国证监会正式对外公布，确定大连商品交易所的棕榈油期货为境内特定品种。由此，棕榈油期货成为国内期货市场第7个、也是已上市农产品期货中的首个境内特定品种。“棕榈油期货获批为对外开放的境内特定品种，是中国期货市场对外开放、服务全球产业企业的又一重要举措，有利于不断巩固期货市场对外开放成果，切实提升我国期货市场的全球定价能力，进一步提升我国期货市场服务全球产业链的能力和水平。”有关市场人士接受粮油市场报记者采访时表示。
上市十余年 硕果累累盈枝头
棕榈油是全球产量最大、国际贸易量最大的植物油品种，主要产区是东南亚和非洲。2019年全球棕榈油产量超过7000万吨，约占全球植物油产量的三分之一，2019年棕榈油消费量约为7100万吨。我国棕榈油全部依赖进口，目前是世界第二大棕榈油进口国和第三大消费国，2019年我国棕榈油消费量超过640万吨，其中60%来自印尼，30%来自马来西亚。
棕榈油期货于2007年在大商所上市，是我国首个全进口商品期货品种。上市十余年来，市场运行稳健，大商所由此已发展成为全球最大的棕榈油期货市场。统计数据显示，2009至2019年间，棕榈油期货年成交量连续多年位居中国农产品期货市场前列。2019年成交量1.35亿手，折合13.5亿吨，日均持仓量42万手，折合420万吨，成交量位居全国农产品期货第三位，按可比口径计算，是马来西亚衍生品交易所（以下简称BMD）成交量的5.77倍。今年上半年，大商所棕榈油期货成交量在全球农产品期货期权市场中排名第二位，影响力日益提升。
棕榈油期货给许多从事外贸的企业带来了规避风险的工具，国内某家外资食品企业正在筹划新增生产和储存设备。该公司负责人告诉记者：“项目落成后，公司的棕榈油贸易量将大大增加。公司在国外产地拥有大量的原粮基地，所以需要在中国加大投资消化上游的产品。今年的市场行情犹如过山车，企业面临很大的风险管理，主要通过国内国外期货市场进行风险管理。企业是从2008年金融危机之后开始重视期货市场，主要从事棕榈油的期货套保。”
据了解，目前利用棕榈油期货套保的棕榈油企业进口量占我国进口量的85%以上。我国大型油脂企业以及在华跨国粮油企业均较为充分地利用棕榈油期货品种开展套期保值交易，棕榈油期货已经成为这些企业风险管理不可或缺的工具；棕榈油期现货价格相关系数达0.99，国内70%的棕榈油现货贸易采用大商所棕榈油期货价格进行基差定价，棕榈油期货已经成为国内现货贸易的定价基准，并深刻影响国际市场定价。
提速国际化 砥砺前行正当时
棕榈油作为我国全进口商品，期货市场国际化后，将打通其生产、加工、消费环节，境外单位客户可同时参与BMD和大商所市场，能更好满足境内外棕榈油生产、加工和贸易企业的避险需求，形成完整的产业风险管理链条，助力“一路一带”产业合作行稳致远。
“国际化能够给从事国际棕榈油贸易的企业带来实实在在的好处，目前棕榈油国际交易价格主要是是以马盘作为参考。”国内某粮油贸易公司接受记者采访时认为，棕榈油期货要想国际化，定价能力很重要，像在贸易当中棕榈油主产国马来西亚和印度尼西亚等地主要参考马盘，其实很多也是由于历史习惯造成的。
上述人士建议，棕榈油期货国际化也少不了国外产地的人来参与，特别要让上游种植者和直接的加工企业参与进来，吸引他们参与国内期货市场交易。通过“一带一路”倡议对接当地政府，在政策、制度等方面做足功课，打通壁垒，这样有利于更多的国际产业参与其中。
“今年突如其来的新冠肺炎疫情使得棕榈油价格在前期呈现弱势，但是后期需求一路向好，造成棕榈油价格也在上涨。”谈及今年的棕榈油市场行情，国内某大型粮油加工企业负责人说道。
记者在采访中了解到，该公司最近几年每年的棕榈油进口量都有所增长。当得知大商所准备引进境外交易者参与棕榈油期货这一消息时，该负责人认为，“这不仅对国外企业有帮助，对于我们这样的国内企业也有好处，可以带动境内期货市场交易量，定价基准会向国内转移，期货市场对于价格发现的功能会发挥的更好。”
这位负责人表示，引进境外交易者后，期货价格会增加产地的相关信息，能够更充分地反映市场，也将给企业提供更有效的套期保值工具。
记者在采访中得知，诸多市场人士也认为，对期货市场来说，随着越来越多国际棕榈油加工、贸易等境外企业参与进来，能够促进境内外、期现货棕榈油市场深度融合，同时有助于棕榈油期货近月合约活跃和主力合约连续，提高棕榈油期货市场运行效率和流动性，优化市场结构，进一步提高市场运行和发展质量，能更好地为全球棕榈油产业企业的风险管理提供服务。
“大商所自2016年起正式启动棕榈油期货国际化工作，经过对境内外市场的充分调研，根据市场各方意见不断改进完善，形成了市场广泛认可的国际化方案。”据大商所农业品部负责人透露，棕榈油期货国际化的交易、结算、风险控制方面均采用铁矿石等境内特定品种的现行方式，原有合约和基础制度不变，核心技术系统不变，核心清算和风控模式不变。目前，大商所正积极准备棕榈油期货引入境外交易者的落地工作，确保平稳承接境外交易者并保障市场的稳健运行。