Step by step

摘要

On august 25th, Chinese traders found themselves at the fountain-ead of innovation. The Shanghai Futures Exchange became the first in Asia to trade fuel-oil futures. In a way, it was no surprise. Last year, China consumed 43m tonnes of the grimy stuff that drives tankers and electricity generators, or one out of every 12 barrels in the world. Its imports rose by 40% in the year to July. As prices have risen, the need for hedging by power producers and others has become critical. The country's top securities regulator proclaimed that this was the first step towards introducing crude-oil derivatives.