The development of the futures market in China has been a "double-edged sword" for the domestic ferro-silicon industry, leading to more flexibility for market participants and wilder price swings than prior to its existence, according to one speaker at Fastmarkets' Asian Ferro-alloys Conference in Hong Kong this week.
Ferro-silicon contracts, launched on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE) in August 2014, have a regular influence on spot off-exchange prices, and this has made the market more complex, one China-based speaker explained."Since futures joined the sales model, things got more complicated," Lucy Wang, general manager of Beijing LY Metals and Mining Co, told delegates during a roundtable discussion on Tuesday March 12."Plants now don't just sell to middle companies and end users, or...