Futures File Photo: VCG

China is stepping up efforts to further open its capital market to the world, as its three major commodity futures exchanges jointly announced the addition of 16 new futures and options contracts to the list accessible to Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) and Renminbi QFII. 

Starting on Friday, the total number of futures and options contracts available to foreign investors will rise to 91, the Securities Times reported on Thursday.

The newly available contracts span key industrial sectors and include rubber, tin, lead, glass, soda ash, ferrosilicon, ethylene glycol, and liquefied petroleum gas. These are traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange, and the Dalian Commodity Exchange, according to announcements on Wednesday by the three commodity futures exchanges.

The announcements were released after China Securities Regulatory Commission Chairman Wu Qing's speech at the annual Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai on the same day, pledging to raise the number of eligible contracts to 100 in the near future, as part of a broader push to open China's capital markets to global investors.

"This is a major step in China's financial opening-up," Xi Junyang, a professor at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Thursday. "In the past, foreign investors had channels to participate in China's stocks and bonds but barely in the futures market."

The expert said that the move broadens the pathway for foreign capital to engage in futures trading in the Chinese market. 

According to official data, the 91 products now open to foreign investors include 83 commodity contracts and eight in financial and index-related categories, covering agriculture, metals, energy, chemicals, building materials, shipping, and finance, according to the Securities Times report. 

Analysts said that this reflects China's efforts to build a futures market aligned with its growing economic stature.

Xi Junyang said that China has made notable progress in expanding the range of tradable futures and options for foreign investors. While there remains room for further alignment with global financial centers such as New York or London, these gaps are narrowing as the country steadily advances the opening-up process in its financial market, he said.

Beyond bringing in foreign capital, China is also promoting its domestic pricing mechanisms on the global stage. 

On March 18, 2024, the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange officially launched the Bursa Malaysia Dalian Commodity Exchange Soybean Oil Futures Contract, noting that it marked the first time that a futures exchange in an ASEAN country had listed a futures contract that is settled based on a Chinese commodity futures price. 

In addition, the Osaka Exchange in Japan listed Shanghai Natural Rubber Futures on May 26, 2025, which is linked to the natural rubber futures price on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, according to the Osaka Exchange's press release. 

"When foreign exchanges adopt Chinese benchmark prices, our products gain global visibility," Xi Junyang said, noting that this helps strengthen China's influence over global commodity pricing and enhances the international status of "China prices."