The Significance of Launching Crude Oil Futures in China
As a strategic power that plays an important role in the world economic system and oil market structure, it is of great significance for China to launch crude oil futures.
First, strive for the pricing power of crude oil and enhance international competitiveness.
Because there is no authoritative benchmark price of crude oil in the Asia-Pacific region, the "Asian premium" makes China spend about 2 billion dollars more on imported crude oil every year. In the past two decades, because China and other Asian countries have no pricing power, regardless of the difference in freight rates, the prices paid by major Asian oil-consuming countries to oil-producing countries in the Middle East are higher than those of European and American countries that import crude oil from the same region by 1- 1.5 USD.
From the perspective of Asia-Pacific, the competition for the Asia-Pacific oil pricing center has become increasingly fierce in recent years, and China is in a relatively passive position. The two largest energy futures markets in Asia are Japan oil futures market and Singapore oil futures market. China Daqing crude oil is priced by Minas crude oil, Shengli crude oil and Dagang crude oil are priced by Xinta crude oil, and Bohai crude oil is priced by Durian crude oil. The introduction of crude oil futures will undoubtedly help China to compete for international pricing power and stabilize the domestic economic operation.
Two. Provide hedging tools for petroleum, petrochemical and related enterprises
China's dependence on foreign oil is increasing day by day. At present, imports account for more than 55%, and there is a strong demand for the preservation and price locking of imported crude oil. According to China's WTO accession agreement, foreign enterprises get the same national treatment as domestic oil enterprises, and foreign enterprises enter the domestic oil market by virtue of the dual advantages of pricing priority and oil hedging. If domestic enterprises cannot hedge through oil futures trading, they will be in a more passive and unfavorable position. Other petroleum and petrochemical enterprises, such as some private enterprises, have no pricing power in the industrial chain, so it is urgent to hedge in the crude oil futures market, lock in production and operation costs or expected profits, and enhance their ability to resist market price risks.
Third, promote the reform of refined oil pricing mechanism.
There are two main problems in China's current oil price formation mechanism which is in line with the international market: First, the price adjustment time lags behind. The change of domestic oil price lags behind the international oil price, which is not only inconsistent with the actual situation of the market at that time, but also the speculative tendency of market participants is very obvious under the condition of very transparent prices, which is not conducive to maintaining the normal market order. Second, the simple price integration mechanism does not take into account the differences in consumption structure, consumption habits and consumption seasons between domestic and foreign markets, and it is difficult to reflect the real supply and demand situation of the domestic refined oil market. The futures market is an open, centralized, unified and almost completely competitive market, which can form oil prices that directly reflect the relationship between market supply and demand.
Fourth, as a means for the state to regulate the oil market.
Modern petroleum market is a complete market system consisting of spot market, spot forward market and futures market, and the functions and functions of these three components are different. If oil futures are introduced, the state's macro-control of the oil market can be carried out simultaneously through the spot market and the futures market, which not only adds another means, but also increases flexibility. At the same time, the introduction of crude oil futures will become a sharp weapon to accelerate the process of survival of the fittest. Technical enterprises with a certain scale and advanced management can make better use of the futures market to avoid market risks and become bigger and stronger by relying on the advantages of manpower, material resources and financial resources, so as to realize the structural optimization of the whole industry and gradually transition to scale and intensification.
Five, to assist in the completion of strategic oil reserves, safeguard national oil security.
Strategic petroleum reserve is the most important link in a country's energy security system. If we don't store enough oil, once there is a problem with the oil channel or oil supply, such as the Strait of Hormuz War, a large amount of oil supply will be cut off. On the one hand, the introduction of oil futures trading will help enterprises to pre-purchase and pre-sell through the futures market, establish a stable long-term supply and marketing relationship, relatively reduce the oil spot inventory and capital occupation of enterprises, and make up for the shortage of spot oil reserves to some extent; On the other hand, through the bonded delivery of listed crude oil futures, international oil traders will set up a delivery warehouse in China to store oil, and a large amount of oil will be transported to China for storage, forming a social reserve of resources, thus using international funds to help China reserve oil.
The listing of domestic crude oil futures may accelerate.
The listing date of crude oil futures about to land in China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone is approaching. As an international trading product, how are the relevant details such as foreign exchange progressing? Will it become the last "roadblock"?
As a breakthrough in the internationalization of China futures market, crude oil futures are very sensitive to the marketization and fluctuation of exchange rate, because domestic and foreign funds arbitrage and hedge here. Under the background that RMB is not freely convertible and foreign exchange futures are still absent, it is necessary to speed up the listing of crude oil futures and clear the obstacles.