China's Chongqing city kick-starts live pig futures

China's Chongqing Agricultural & Livestock Forward Exchange has launched the live pig futures, paving the way for it to become a futures bourse in time to come.

The trading of the live pig futures has begun this week, with trading volume reaching 4,788 lots.

With a registered capital of RMB100 million (US$14.6 million), Chongqing Agricultural Exchange is the first exchange of its kind in West China. Initially, the city wanted to set up a futures exchange directly but it has to be approved by the State Council. Eventually, the local government of Chongqing established a forward trade exchange instead.

China has become the second biggest commodity futures market in the world, after the US. From January to November 2009, the futures trading turnover in Mainland China hit RMB113 trillion (US$16.6 trillion), an on-year increase of 72.57%.