Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) opened another 8 products to Qualified Foreign Investors (QFI) on September 28, 2026, including Aluminum Oxide, Cast Aluminum Alloy, Butadiene Rubber, and Offset Paper Futures and Options. This will increase its total number of QFI-accessible products to 47, which covers nearly all products listed on SHFE. 

Since September 2022, SHFE has opened 47 futures and options to QFI in seven batches, covering metals, energy, chemical and shipping products, which meets the multi-asset allocation needs of overseas investors, as well as the needs of overseas industrial enterprises to hedge spot price risks. SHFE has a diverse QFI client base, covering various financial institutions such as asset management companies and sovereign funds as well as industrial enterprises from 14 countries and regions around the world. Their participation is steadily increasing, not only in the number of clients, but also in their trading volume and open interest. By September 23, 2026, the number of QFI clients on SHFE increased by nearly 40% compared with the end of 2025; and their average daily trading volume and open interest this year increased by nearly 20% and 30% compared with last year. 

Since 2026, SHFE has rolled out a series of opening up measures and kept facilitating the participation of overseas investors: 

In terms of products, SHFE opened 5 Specified Products (internationalised products) to overseas traders and 15 QFI-accessible products this year. Among these, nickel futures and options are the first internationalised products on SHFE, and have recently completed the whole process of internationalization from trading and clearing to delivery with the first delivery-month position transfer of SHFE nickel futures concluded by an overseas trader. 

In terms of services, Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE), a subsidiary of SHFE, launched cross-border delivery business on TSR20 futures in June this year, to make it easier for overseas industrial enterprises to participate in physical delivery. The first cross-border delivery was successfully completed on August 21. 

In terms of cross-border cooperation, SHFE licensed its Hot Rolled Coil (HRC) settlement price to London Metal Exchange (LME) for LME to develop a contract based on the SHFE HRC futures RMB settlement price. The LME Steel HRC Shanghai contract will commence trading on LME on 27 October 2026, which will provide Chinese and overseas companies engaged in global HRC trade with a more direct and effective risk-management tool. 

An SHFE executive said, moving forward, SHFE will continue to open more products, facilitate overseas participation, and provide more diversified risk management tools and services to global investors.