China's rising influence in global commodities markets

China is tightening its grip on global commodities markets.

It is already one of the largest import and export economies in the world, which means that it has a lot of influence over the price of raw materials like iron ore and copper. Signs that Chinese demand is slowing down have had a marked impact on markets like we saw last year.

Chinese futures markets should keep expanding over the next few years, with Beijing set on China playing a larger role in global price discovery. Highly anticipated is the launch of China's first crude futures contract in late 2016. A number of ETFs and long-only funds (LOFs) should also start trading, giving Chinese investors ways to track a variety of commodities in both onshore and offshore markets.

The trading volumes in Chinese futures contracts spiked last year, and offered three reasons for it. Chinese commodity futures markets have exploded in the past two years, key contracts in industrial metals, gold and agricultural products have become some of the most widely traded commodity futures contracts in the world and perhaps it would continue to grow in popularity.

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