29/10/2007 (Xinhua), Dalian - Palm oil futures hit the maximum daily price rise limit on debut trading at the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE), in northeast China's Liaoning Province, on Monday.

The quoted base price of palm oil futures started the day at 7,800 yuan per ton. Only ten minutes later, the price shot up to 8,424 yuan, a rise of almost eight percent, causing the suspension of the day's trading.

Palm oil is the first overseas-produced commodity traded at Chinese exchanges. The DCE has designated a number of benchmark delivery warehouses and non-benchmark delivery warehouses for palm oil in Guangdong, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Tianjin.

Palm oil is the world's second most popular edible oil after soy oil. China imported 5.14 million tons of palm oil in 2006, accounting for 22 percent of the country's total vegetable oil consumption and 14 percent of the world's total.

"The DCE has had the highest trade volume among China's three commodity exchanges for seven straight years, and has been among the world's top ten for five years in a row," said Liu Huajun, DCE vice general manager.

Established in 1993, the DCE has seen 1.4 billion transactions with accumulated turnover of 35 trillion yuan. It suspends trading on a commodity when the price rises or falls by eight to ten percent.

So far, 18 commodities have been listed on China's three commodities futures exchanges, the DCE, Shanghai Commodity Exchange and Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange.
(1 U.S. dollar is equivalent to 7.5 yuan.)