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"Futures markets have long been plagued by the shortage of capital and the establishment of futures funds has long been expected by the industry as a way to change that," Hu said.

"The industry has long hoped that the revised rules would greatly loosen the present tight regulatory regime, but it seems that has not come true with the new rules," said a research fellow with China International Futures Co Ltd.

The current rules governing the futures industry were enacted in 1999.

The government is mulling over a plan to create a unified futures-trading regulator, a senior official said earlier this month.

The new supervisory body will draw representatives from relevant government bodies, stock exchanges and industry associations, said Zhou Zhengqing, former chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

Facts and Figures

* China has 184 futures brokerages and four future exhanges: Shanghai Futures Exchange, Shanghai Financial Derivatives Exchange (which has not started trading), Dalian Commodity exchange and Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange.

* The combined trading volume of the three futures exchanges amounted to 19 trillion yuan (US$2.4 trillion) in the first 11 months of this year, up 58 per cent year-on-year.

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