China launched apple futures contract transaction in Zhengzhou of central Henan Province on Friday, the first fresh fruit futures in the global market.
China Securities Regulatory Commission approved the application of Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange for apple futures in July, part of a wider effort to help the futures market better serve agriculture, farmers and rural areas.
The bench mark price of each of the five contracts is 7 800 Yuan per ton. And apples that reach the standards of getting listed on the exchange market should possess supreme qualities.
“During the peak season, we classify the Fuji apples into three levels: the first, the second and the third. The apples scheduled for delivery must reach the standard of level-1 Fuji apples, which will be at least 80 millimetres in diameter, with the chromaticity reaching 70%,” said Hou Zhibao, manager of Shenglong Fruit Industry Ltd., Baishui County of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province.
The apples scheduled for delivery must reach the standard of level-1 Fuji apples, which will be 80 millimetres or more in diameter, with the chromaticity reaching 70%.
According to experts, choosing apples as a future trading category aims to prompt China’s futures market to better serve the real economy on the one hand and increase fruit grower’s income and poverty-alleviating on the other.
“Apple is the natural ‘poverty-alleviating’ fruit, as its main production areas are overlapped with impoverished regions. Apple plating is an important income source for local farmers. The IPO of the apple futures will further enrich China’s commodity futures system and better serve the national economy,” said Leng Bing, director of the agriculture service at Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange.
