China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE, Dalian; www.dce.com.cn) is expected to begin trading in PVC futures soon following simulation tests on nine PVC futures contracts and the publication in February 2009 of PVC test contracts and details. Liu Xingqiang, president and CEO of DCE, said in October 2008 that the exchange was preparing for the launch of PVC, PE, PP and other petrochemical futures.

It has been reported that the trading unit of the PVC futures will be five t/lot with a minimum price change of CNY 5/t (EUR 0.54/t). The daily limit up and down is 4% of the previous settlement price and minimum margin is 5% of contract value. PVC will be the second polymer to be traded on the exchange following the listing of LLDPE on 31 July 2007.

The Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX, www.dgcx.ae) postponed the launch of its plastics futures trading scheme for PP and LLDPE in February 2009, saying it needed more time for preparation – see Plasteurope.com of 11.02.2009. In the US, derivatives exchange CME Group (Chicago, Illinois; www.cmegroup.com) began trading in plastics at the beginning of November 2008, with the launch plastics futures contracts for PP and PE – see Plasteurope.com of 07.11.2008.