Economics
China Plans to Open Up Commodity Trading to Foreigners to Bring Down Prices
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China buys more raw materials than any nation, but that doesn’t mean it always gets the best prices. So the government is altering domestic commodity exchanges to bring in more foreign investors and expand the country’s influence on global markets.
Two decades of rapid economic growth have left the world’s biggest population consuming more food, energy and metals than it can produce, turning the country into a powerhouse importer. Still, the value of many purchased commodities, from crude oil to soybeans, is set by global benchmarks priced in dollars on exchanges in other countries, where markets are more open.