First mainland crude futures trading launched

China launched trading of yuan-denominated crude oil futures contracts at the Shanghai International Energy Exchange on Monday, the first futures listed on China's mainland for overseas investors.

A total of 413 companies participated in the call auction, with the transaction price coming to 440 yuan ($70) per barrel Monday morning. The first companies to reach a deal included China National United Oil Corporation, Unipec Asia Co Ltd and Glencore Singapore Pate Ltd.

There were 15 contracts publicly traded Monday. Transaction deposit is set at 7 percent of the contract value, and the daily limit of price fluctuation is 5 percent.

China's demand-growth has remained the world's largest every year since 2009. China surpassed the US as the world largest net importer of crude oil and petroleum products in 2014, and the country is today the world's largest net importer of crude oil.