The Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE), China's biggest commodities market, is expected to launch silver futures by the end of this year, the head of the SHFE said Saturday.

The statement was made by Yang Maijun, general manager of the SHFE, on the sidelines of the Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai, an annual gathering of China's top financial officials and economists.

Yang also stressed the importance of introducing crude oil futures in China, noting that about 55 percent of China's crude oil has to be imported and that this percentage is likely to increase in the future.

"Developing crude oil futures has a bearing on national energy security and economic security, and the SHFE hopes to step up its efforts to launch crude oil futures," he said.

However, "this will be determined by the domestic spot market for crude oil and by how much of its production and logistics is market-based," Yang said.

He said the SHFE is also trying to internationalize prices of domestic futures.

"While the import and export of commodities in China has been fully internationalized, international investors cannot directly participate in domestic futures trading, thus limiting the influence of domestic futures prices," said Yang.