TOKYO: Osaka Exchange Inc's daily trading volume of its key rubber futures has fallen to the lowest in 33 years in June, an exchange spokesperson said on Friday, partly due to reduced trade by Chinese investors.
The Japanese exchange's ribbed smoked sheet (RSS) futures have been a benchmark for the Asian rubber market since they were first offered in 1952.
The average daily trading volume in June -- monthly turnover divided by the number of working days -- for the RSS futures fell to 2,255 contracts, marking the lowest since March 1988, Kohei Iwasaki, the exchange's spokesperson said.
"We think it was due to various reasons, but we presume that one of the reasons is that Chinese investors have cut back on trading in the wake of China's move to tighten regulations," he said.
China said in May it would strengthen price controls on iron ore, copper, corn and other major commodities in its 14th five-year plan for 2021 to 2025 to address abnormal fluctuations in prices.
In June, China announced plans to release industrial metals from its national reserves to curb commodity prices as Beijing struggled to cool a surge in metal prices this year fuelled by a post-pandemic economic recovery, ample global liquidity and speculative buying that has dented manufacturers' margins.
To boost trading volume, Osaka Exchange, which is part of Japan Exchange Group Inc, plans to consider measures to improve convenience for investors and bolster liquidity by attracting overseas investors in arbitrage trading with futures in other exchanges, such as the Shanghai Futures Exchange and the Singapore Exchange, Iwasaki said.