China's Shanghai Futures Exchange is set to launch a futures contract for road-paving material bitumen as early as next month, officials said, its second energy contract after an ill-fated fuel oil contract. China, the world's second-largest fuel consumer is keen to grow trading in energy futures, but has been unable to establish contracts open to global investors due to state restrictions on international money flows.
A plan for a crude futures contract, which could become a regional oil pricing benchmark, is still awaiting a final nod from Beijing as the government tackles issues such as foreign exchange management, traders and officials have said. Rapidly urbanising China is Asia's largest user of bitumen, also known as asphalt, a heavy tar-like refinery fuel that makes up just under four percent of the country's total fuel use. The Shanghai exchange won state approval to launch a bitumen contract last month and trading is expected to kick off in a month or two, said two exchange officials.
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