The 10 companies which have been given approval include the China Aluminium Corp (Chinalco), Tongling Non-feral Metal Mining Corp, Jiangxi Copper Corp and China Aviation Oil Corp.

Seven of them are in the metal business while the remainder are involved in energy, food and transport.

But they can only trade products which are related to their business for the sake of hedging. No speculation is allowed.

China banned all overseas futures trading by domestic enterprises in 1994 to clear up irregularities and speculation in the futures market. But as the demand for hedging increased among enterprises with big import and export volumes, the government started to withdraw the ban in 2001 and allowed seven large State-owned groups to resume trading.

(China Daily April 7, 2003)