“La sabiduría de la vida consiste en la eliminación de lo no esencial. En reducir los problemas de la filosofía a unos pocos solamente: el goce del hogar, de la vida, de la naturaleza, de la cultura”.
Lin Yutang
Cervantes
Hoy es el día más hermoso de nuestra vida, querido Sancho; los obstáculos más grandes, nuestras propias indecisiones; nuestro enemigo más fuerte, el miedo al poderoso y a nosotros mismos; la cosa más fácil, equivocarnos; la más destructiva, la mentira y el egoísmo; la peor derrota, el desaliento; los defectos más peligrosos, la soberbia y el rencor; las sensaciones más gratas, la buena conciencia, el esfuerzo para ser mejores sin ser perfectos, y sobretodo, la disposición para hacer el bien y combatir la injusticia dondequiera que esté.
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES Don Quijote de la Mancha.
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4 de enero de 2017
China Goes on $26 Trillion Commodity Binge as Shortages Seen
by
Alfred Cang
Commodity futures turnover, aggregate volume rise for 5th year
Intervention by Chinese regulators curbed trading frenzy
The Year in Commodities
Chinese investors traded a record volume of commodity
futures last year as speculators poured in and out of the market on bets
that shortages are looming.
Combined aggregate trading volume on
the Shanghai Futures Exchange, Dalian Commodity Exchange and Zhengzhou
Commodity Exchange jumped 27 percent from 2015 levels to 4.1 billion
contracts, according to data e-mailed by the China Futures Association.
Turnover across the bourses rose 30 percent to a record 177.4 trillion
yuan ($25.5 trillion), the data show.
Chinese investors, flush with credit and hunting for returns, piled
into commodities futures last year, spurred by bets that the
government’s efforts to cut industrial capacity would lead to shortages
of raw materials. They charged into markets several times in 2016 and
bought everything
from iron ore to cotton, driving up prices and stoking fears of a
bubble. Authorities introduced curbs on excessive speculation to quell
the mania.
“With the hope that supply-side reform will successfully
reduce overcapacity in China, especially in the country’s coal and steel
sectors, some commodities futures surged amid a trading frenzy last
year,” says Jia Zheng, trader at Shanghai Minhong Investment Management.
“Price volatility increased too because of low inventories following
low prices in the past.”
Trading volume in Chinese commodities
futures has been heaviest in the world for the seventh consecutive year,
Fang Xinghai, Vice Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory
Commission, told an industry conference last month, according to a
transcript posted on the CSRC website.
Turnover Lags
In terms of turnover, the Chinese bourses probably still
lag behind international rivals. The notional value of the commodity
futures and options traded on CME Group’s exchanges in 2015 was $41.15
trillion, according to the World Federation of Exchanges. CME said
Wednesday that its total daily volume averaged 15.6 million
contracts last year, up 12 percent. That included a 49 percent surge in
metals volume in the fourth quarter.During the year, prices of
everything from steel to coal, soymeal and zinc surged to multi-year
highs in China and in some cases record high levels. Over the period,
the Bloomberg Commodity Index advanced 11 percent, the first gain since
2010.
Chinese exchanges usually double count volumes, open
interest and turnover to reflect the long and short side of a trade,
while the China Futures Association counts only one side of transaction,
which is in line with the standards of most bourses in the world.
