The listing ceremony was held in Osaka, Japan. Lu Dongsheng, the CEO of SHFE, and Yokoyama Ryusuke, the President and CEO of OSE, spoke on behalf of the two exchanges. Osaka Prefecture Governor Yoshimura Hirofumi delivered a video address, and witnessing this important event in person were Counsellor Jing Chunhai from the Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in Osaka; Kenmochi Hiroaki, President of the Japan Commodity Futures Industry Association; Mo Shiwen, Deputy Director of Guangdong Agribusiness Group Corp.; and Yan Wei, General Manager of PetroChina International (East China) Co., Ltd., among other representatives from China and Japan.

This licensing deal facilitates more international traders’ access to China’s natural rubber futures prices as a benchmark through an overseas platform. Based in China, the world’s biggest consumer of natural rubber, the SHFE Natural Rubber Futures serves global clients with its high liquidity and pricing influence. OSE, backed by Japan’s developed market, offers market participants around the globe a highly efficient trading platform. The newly listed contract is cash-settled at the final settlement price of the SHFE Natural Rubber Futures multiplied by 100 Japanese yen, without the need to have exchange rate conversions and duties deduction calculation. As such, it provides global industries and investors a transparently priced and expedient risk management tool, addressing various hedging, cross-market arbitrage, asset allocation, and investment and trading needs.

Lu said in his speech that this collaboration between SHFE and OSE is a concrete step taken by the Chinese futures market toward high-standard opening up. The “Shanghai Rubber” price creates new risk management possibilities for rubber industries around the world. SHFE looks forward to other cross-border partnerships to further enhance the futures market’s ability to serve the real economy.

Yokoyama noted that the newly listed contract represents of a fusion of the wide selection of hedging tools in Japan with the robust growth of the Chinese market. It enables more hedging options for industrial clients in Japan and investors around the world, and injects new vitality into the rubber industries of the two countries and even globally.

In her congratulatory video, the President of China Rubber Industry Association Xu Wenying spoke highly of the listing, believing it will bring a more stable international natural rubber market. Zheng Wenrong, Executive Vice President of China Natural Rubber Association, said that the contract will help the industry cope with price fluctuations and optimize international trade. Renowned rubber producers including Southland Rubber and Sri Trang Agro-Industry PCL said that by offering both a direct link to the “Shanghai Rubber” price and the cash settlement option, the contract has opened new ways to manage risks and allocate assets in international trade based on Chinese prices. Many global investment firms also have plans for the contract in building multi-market portfolios.

The debut of “Shanghai Rubber” prices in Japan is yet another international breakthrough of the Chinese futures standards. In 2024, the General Office of the State Council released the Opinions on Strengthening Regulation, Preventing Risks and Promoting High-Quality Development of the Futures Market formulated by the China Securities Regulatory Commission and other relevant departments, affirming China's support for collaborations between domestic and overseas exchanges, in particular overseas listings based on domestic futures prices. SHFE plans to work more closely with its international peers, to find new ways to open the Chinese market and bring more products to international traders, in order to promote global trades at Chinese prices.

The first Shanghai Natural Rubber Futures contracts listed were three monthly contracts expiring in September 2025, January 2026, and May 2026, with a cumulative trading volume of 322 lots and open interest of 152 lots on the first trading day.