Steel rebar, silver options trading launched on futures exchange

Steel rebar options and silver options were launched for trading on the Shanghai Futures Exchange on Monday.

With the debut of the two new options, the tally of futures and options varieties listed on the futures exchange has reached 28, including eight options varieties.

On the launch day, four series of steel rebar options were listed with 224 contracts, as were three series of silver options with 136 contracts.

Rebar and silver are important varieties in the steel industry and the non-ferrous metal industry, respectively. The steel sector, represented by rebar, is an important basic industry of the national economy, while silver has both commodity and financial attributes and is an important raw material for the new energy industry and the high-end manufacturing industry.

Rebar futures and silver futures were listed as early as 2009 and 2012, respectively, showing the characteristics of large market size, good contract liquidity and reasonable investor structure. The two varieties of futures have become important risk management tools for China's steel industry and non-ferrous metals industry.