CME终身名誉主席梅拉梅德在原油期货上市仪式上的致辞

CME终身名誉主席　梅拉梅德

I am delighted to be here to celebrate the opening of the Shanghai International Energy Exchange, the INE. This will be China’s first commodities futures contract with cross border application and subject to international competition. That represents a major milestone in the history of China’s markets, one that I have advocated from the very birth of this the idea. Indeed, I recall helping organize the first CME committee some four years ago to act in an advisory capacity as the specifications were determined.
　　Clearly, it comes at a moment of troubling international trade issues. However, this coincidence does not take anything away from the magnitude of this historical happening. Indeed, it is indicative of China’s place as the world’s second largest world economy.
　　China’s demand-growth has remained the world largest in every year since 2009. China surpassed the US as the world largest net importer of crude oil and petroleum products in 2014. China is today the world’s largest net importer of crude oil. Without a China-based crude oil futures markets, China had little ability to partake in the price discovery mechanism which futures markets provide. The launch of the INE will immeasurably improve the input of Chinese commercials and traders in this process and act as a price-benchmark in the Asia-Pacific region. Most important, it will provide a risk-management tool to major as well as small and medium sized firms.
　　None of this will happen overnight. I know, perhaps more than most observers, that establishing a new market is no easy task and often take a number of years to achieve. But as Lao Tzu said “the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
　　The opening of the INE represents this first step. I am here to congratulate you and wish the new market success.