Futures, literally, are future commodities. Futures are relative to spot. Futures are the subject matter that is bought and sold now, but will be settled or delivered in the future. This subject matter can be gold, crude oil, agricultural products, financial instruments, financial indicators and other commodities. The delivery date of futures can be one week later, one month later, three months later or even one year later. A contract or agreement to buy or sell futures is called a futures contract. Futures contracts are uniformly customized by the exchange, with a high degree of standardization and good liquidity.

The purpose of futures is a tool to transfer risks. The specific method is hedging. Futures are rarely delivered, and the delivery cost is high, but the cash cost is still low. In your case, you are worried about future commodity prices. You can buy this kind of contract, and the quantity must be consistent with the quantity of goods you want to buy in the future, otherwise the risk will be exposed. If your spot price really goes up, you can sell futures. The trend of futures and spot is basically the same. So don't worry about price deviation. The surplus in the futures market will make up for your spot loss. If the spot price falls, your gains in the spot market will make up for your losses in the futures market.

Besides futures, there are options and forward contracts, but options are not available in China. The default risk of forward contracts is high, while the default risk of futures is zero. So as far as the current situation in China is concerned, futures is the best way to trade.