The contract unit of live pig futures introduced by South Korea is 1 1,000 kg, while the contract unit designed by CME is 30,000 pounds, which is about10.36 million kg. South Korea has relatively few contract units, which can attract more small and medium-sized funds to participate in pig futures trading, but it will undoubtedly increase transaction costs and increase trading speculation; Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has a large contract unit, which is not conducive to attracting small and medium-sized funds to participate, but it is convenient for futures market funds to participate and is also conducive to controlling market speculation. Considering that China is a big country in pig breeding and pork consumption, in order to cultivate institutional investors in the futures market, control speculative risks in the futures market, reduce transaction costs, and encourage the large-scale development of pig breeding, China's pig futures contracts should learn from each other's strengths as much as possible, and the contract unit is best designed to be 5 tons.
On July 2 1 2008, the first lean pig futures contract in Asia landed on Korea Stock and Futures Exchange (KRX) and officially started trading on the same day. This is the second commodity futures contract launched by Korea Securities and Futures Exchange after gold futures, and it is also the first agricultural futures contract launched by the exchange. This means that the Korean Stock and Futures Exchange is one step ahead of the China Dalian Commodity Exchange in the process of promoting pig futures.
It is reported that the scale of Korean pork futures contracts corresponds to 1 ton of lean pig products; The transaction unit is won/kg; The trading margin ratio is14%; The minimum contract price change unit is 5 won/kg; The longest contract is 6 months, which expires on the third Wednesday of each month; The settlement method is cash settlement, which is based on the average price of live pigs traded in 1 1 local market.
Yesterday, the opening price of pork futures contract was 3950 won/kg, the highest price was 3960 won/kg, the lowest price was 3900 won/kg, and it finally closed at 3935 won/kg. The total turnover on that day was 125 lots, and the total position was 39 1 lot.
Korea Stock and Futures Exchange was established in 2005, integrating Korea Stock Exchange (KSE), KOSDAQ and Korea Futures Exchange (KOFEX). It has now developed into the second largest derivatives exchange in the world. Li Zhenghuan, chairman and chief executive officer of the exchange, said: "It is an important part of our exchange's long-term development strategy to continuously introduce new varieties of futures contracts. We hope to continue to expand more product categories and further strengthen our market leadership. "
In fact, the launch of live pig futures is a major event of Dalian Commodity Exchange in recent years. Previously, during the "two sessions" this year, Liu Xingqiang, general manager of the Dashang Institute, said that the conditions for the listing of live pig futures by the Dashang Institute were already met. In order to help farmers cope with the risk of market price fluctuations, the big business office will speed up the pace and make pig futures "born" as soon as possible.
An insider who did not want to be named revealed to the "First Financial Daily" that the design of the pig futures contract of Dashang was as follows: the trading unit: 5 tons/lot; Price limit range: 4% of the settlement price of the previous trading day; The minimum trading margin is 5% of the contract value; The delivery months of the contract are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,1and 65438+February; The delivery method is physical delivery, and the minimum delivery unit is 5 tons. At present, eight provinces and cities, including Hunan, Hubei, Henan, Sichuan, Chongqing and Guangdong, have been preliminarily selected as alternative locations. The quality standard of live pig futures is: the weight is between 90~ 1 10 kg, and the live fat is less than or equal to 2.5 cm.
When asked whether the launch of Korean lean pig futures will promote the pace of launching pig futures in China, the above-mentioned insiders revealed to our reporter that at present, the pig futures of Dashang have been reported to the CSRC for approval. "As for when it can be approved, time cannot be estimated."
2. Choice of delivery time
The month of live pig futures contract launched by Korea Stock Exchange is a continuous six-month contract, while the month of live pig futures contract launched by CME is bimonthly every year, that is, there are six delivery months: February, April, June, August, 10 and 12 6. The author thinks that when designing the futures contract month, not only the current hedging demand of traders, but also the fluctuation of pig price in the next 6 to 12 months due to the long pig breeding cycle should be considered, so when designing the futures contract month, the long-term hedging demand of pig farmers should also be met. We should not only consider the hedging needs of traders under normal circumstances, but also consider the hedging needs of traditional holiday prices due to seasonal fluctuations; It is necessary to consider the hedging needs of farmers, as well as the hedging needs of processors and large consumers. In view of this, it is suggested that the months of China pig futures contracts should be 2, 4, 6, 9, 10, 12 and 1.
3. Choice of delivery method
Live pig futures in Korea are settled in cash, and the cash settlement price is the average price index of live pigs traded in Korea 1 1 market. The spot index is based on the weighted average price per kilogram of lean pigs in the spot wholesale market calculated by Korea Animal Products Rating Service Bureau, and CME adopts physical delivery. The cash delivery method is relatively simple and convenient, but due to the lack of convergence between the spot price and the futures price in the delivery month, it is easy to lead to the possibility of excessive speculation by individual institutions by virtue of their capital advantages. At the same time, cash delivery is not conducive to spot traders and processors to enter the market for hedging. In view of this, it is suggested that China pig futures should be mainly delivered in kind.