Apple futures fuel 'speculative boom'

ZHENGZHOU - In less than five months, China's apple futures have fuelled a "speculative boom" among investors, with the highest daily turnover reaching 616.3 billion yuan ($96.65 billion).

Chang Qichao is an apple dealer in Lingbao, central China's Henan province. He has paid close attention to the changes in the price of apple's futures recently.

Under the expectation of a decline of apple production, the price of apple futures has been soaring since April. The sudden rise has drawn a large number of opportunists into the market.

Wednesday marked the most active day for the apple futures trade, with the daily trade volume surpassing the annual apple production in China.

China, the world's largest apple grower and consumer, launched the world's first apple futures contracts on Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange in Henan province in December 2017, to help growers hedge against risks amid price fluctuations.

To counterbalance the speculative boom, the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange has introduced risk prevention and control measures. The market stabilized after the daily turnover dropped more than 3 percent on Thursday and Friday.

Chang said he became very interested in the product due to these circumstances and he will apply to become a delivery warehouse for apple futures.

China's apple output has been increasing over the past decade. It had 2 million hectares of apple trees with an output of 43.88 million tonnes in 2016, accounting for 57 percent of global supply.

Apple growing is an important part of China's poverty alleviation campaign, as many of the country's impoverished areas rely on apples as a major income source.

China has been stressing the role that financial services play in the real economy, and issued futures contracts for commodities including white sugar, soybean meal, and cotton yarn.