(Yicai Global) April 20 -- The first product traded on China’s fifth futures exchange, inaugurated yesterday in the southern city of Guangzhou, could be greenhouse gases as the country explores developing a futures market for carbon emissions.

Regulators will encourage the Guangzhou Futures Exchange to promote the development of carbon emissions futures, Gao Li, spokesperson of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said on April 16.

The country’s four other futures markets -- the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange, the Dalian Commodity Exchange and the China Financial Futures Exchange -- each own 15 percent of the new trading venue, which is China’s first mixed-ownership exchange. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, which runs that city’s stock market, has a 7 percent stake.

The securities watchdog supports the development of more commodity index funds and exchange-traded fund investment products as well as carbon emissions futures, CRSC Vice Chairman Fang Xinghai said last December.

Editor: Kim Taylor