Bottle-grade PET resin futures listed in Zhengzhou

China's Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE) officially launched the trade for futures for bottle-grade Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Resin futures on Friday, which is to better meet the diversified risk management needs of enterprises.

PET resin is closely related to people's daily life, which is primarily used to produce mineral water bottles.

As of the morning session's close, the trading volume of the bottle-grade (PET) resin futures reached 133,444 contracts, with a turnover of 13.17 billion yuan (around 1.86 billion U.S. dollars).

Six bottle-grade PET resin futures contracts were listed as the first batch, with a benchmark listing price of 6,850 yuan (around 966 U.S. dollars) per ton.

"The listing of bottle-grade PET futures will work in synergy with other already listed related products in the polyester industrial chain, to better serve enterprises by enabling hedging and inventory management, and contributing to the high-quality development of the industry," said Niu Yike, a manager with the ZCE.

The raw material for producing bottle-grade PET resin is crude oil, therefore fluctuations in crude oil prices can seriously impact bottle-grade PET resin prices.

The listing of bottle-grade PET resin futures will better meet the diverse risk management needs of enterprises.

"As crude oil is the major raw material for us in the upstream, its price volatility has exceeded 60 percent in the past three years, which seriously impacted our production, operation, and marketing. And the seasonal fluctuations in bottle-grade PET resin sales are another important factor impacting our actual production and operation. So we urgently need a financial tool to offset the risks associated with market price fluctuations," said Chen Canzhong, senior executive with a new material company in Zhejiang.

In 2023, China produced 13.1 million tons of bottle-grade PET resin and consumed 7.56 million tons, accounting for 24 percent of the global total consumption. Currently, China has become the world's largest exporter of bottle-grade PET resin, with products sold to over 100 countries and regions around the globe.

Bottle-grade PET resin futures listed in Zhengzhou

The first-tier cities across China in August witnessed falling new home prices which dropped by 0.3 percent compared to July, with a 0.2 percentage points slower decline than the previous month.

Among them, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen recorded decreases of 0.5, 0.5, and 0.8 percent, respectively, while Shanghai saw an increase of 0.6 percent.

In the second- and third-tier cities, new home prices fell by 0.7 and 0.8 percent, respectively, in August, with both figures representing a 0.1 percentage point expansion in the decline from July.

Prices for second-hand homes in the first-tier cities reduced by 0.9 percent in August, widening by 0.4 percentage points from the previous month. While in the second- and the third-tier cities, second-hand home prices fell by 1.0 and 0.9 percent.

Compared to August 2023, new home prices in the first-tier cities dropped by 4.2 percent in August, maintaining the same rate of decline as in July. In the second- and the third-tier cities, new home prices fell by 5.3 and 6.2 percent, respectively, in August, both representing larger year-on-year declines than the previous month.

In the second-hand housing market, the first-tier cities saw a 9.4 percent year-on-year price drop in August, widening by 0.6 percentage points compared to July. In the second- and the third-tier cities, second-hand home prices fell by 8.6 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively, with both showing a 0.4 percentage point increase in the rate of decline.

China's major cities see falling new home prices in August