DALIAN, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Japonica rice futures were listed on the Dalian Commodity Exchange on Friday, with a benchmark price of 3,550 yuan (504 U.S. dollars) per tonne for each contract.
"Japonica rice, or polished round-grained rice, plays an important role in China's food security," said Li Zhengqiang, president of Dalian Commodity Exchange, based in the northeast China city of Dalian.
Japonica rice futures can provide open and transparent future price signals for growers and food processing firms to hedge price risks, said Li.
China's futures market reported robust growth in the first half of this year (H1) with launches of a slew of new options such as natural rubber, cotton and corn.
The total transaction of the futures markets across the country reached 128.6 trillion yuan in H1, up 33.79 percent year on year, data from the China Futures Association showed.
Jin Guowei, vice mayor of Dalian, said at the listing ceremony on Friday that the listing of the rice futures is timely, will effectively push for structural adjustments and transformation in the food industry, and will change the long-standing trend of "good harvest, weak prices."
Rice is one of the three main grain varieties in China with Japonica rice mainly cultivated in the north and Indica rice grown in the south.
