May 6, 2009

The outbreak of AH1N1 influenza won't affect the launch of hog futures in China, an official at the Dalian Commodity Exchange said Tuesday (May 5).

"We took into consideration the impact of various epidemic diseases on the delivery of live hogs when we designed the rules for hog futures," said Wang Weijun, chief of the bourse's information department, adding the flu has nothing to do with the launch timetable.

He said the exchange has included regulations under the rules for hog futures to prevent the spread of such diseases.

But the exchange is doing more research and studies on the launch of the futures contracts, he added, without elaborating.

Wang also didn't give a timetable for the launch of the contracts.

The exchange said at the start of last year that it sought advice from experts and industry participants to improve the draft rules and aimed to launch hog futures as soon as possible.