Shanghai gets taste of plastics futures

Eyeing China as one of the world's biggest plastics markets, the London Metal Exchange will start its roadshow promoting its new plastics futures market in Shanghai today, the South China Morning Post reported. The market is scheduled to open when two polypropylene contracts begin trading in late May, enabling buyers to hedge against price fluctuations as they do in metals, oil and other commodities. The LME, which moves on to Singapore on the next leg of its tour, says annual world plastics trading totals US$120 billion a year, about the same as metals, but with trading in plastics growing at a faster rate.