The owner of the London Metal Exchange aims to target Chinese commodity traders concerned by speculative excesses on the country’s domestic bourses, with plans to establish a physical metals trading platform in mainland China next year.

伦敦金属交易所(LME)的东家香港交易所(Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing)计划明年在中国内地设立一个现货金属交易平台，并以内地大宗商品交易商为目标客户，这些交易商正对内地交易所存在的过度投机现象感到担忧。

Charles Li, chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, which bought the LME in 2012, said its planned exchange in Qianhai would make sure prices remained tied to the underlying economy by underpinning it with an LME-style warehouse system for the physical delivery of metal.

于2012年收购了LME的香港交易所集团的行政总裁李小加(Charles Li)表示，计划在深圳前海推出的交易平台将配套建设一个LME式的仓储体系，以支持现货金属交割，从而确保金属价格不会与基础经济脱节。

This is a platform for physical users, he told the FT Commodities Asia Summit in Singapore. This is a platform for people who trade commodities.

这是一个服务于实物买家的平台，他在于新加坡召开的英国《金融时报》亚洲大宗商品峰会(FT Commodities Asia Summit)上表示，这个平台面向交易大宗商品的人士。

The whole idea is not another financial speculation forum.

整体想法并不是要打造另一个金融投机平台。

The move comes after a surge in speculative activity in Chinese commodity futures caused prices to jump this year, raising questions about the influence of China’s growing number of retail speculators on global commodity markets.

今年以来中国内地大宗商品期货市场投机活动激增，导致价格飙升，这使人们产生疑问：中国日益增多的散户投机者对全球大宗商品市场影响有多大？

The Shanghai steel rebar futures contract, a niche product for the construction industry, briefly became the third-most traded global commodity futures contract in the world in April before exchanges stepped in to raise transaction fees and discipline some members.

4月，上海螺纹钢期货合约一度成为全球成交量第三的大宗商品期货合约，螺纹钢是一种应用于建筑行业的特定产品。其后，各交易所采取干预措施，纷纷提高交易手续费，并惩处部分会员。

The launch of the platform is likely to bring HKEx into competition with China’s domestic futures exchanges such as the Shanghai Futures Exchange and the Dalian Commodity Exchange.

推出前海现货金属交易平台之举，可能使港交所与上海期货交易所(Shanghai Futures Exchange)、大连商品交易所(Dalian Commodity exchange)等内地期货交易所形成竞争。

Mr Li said that while HKEx’s Chinese spot metals exchange was unlikely to offer commodity futures contracts it would still seek to attract banks and hedge funds to the platform that wanted to trade directly in physical metals.

李小加表示，尽管港交所前海平台不太可能提供大宗商品期货合约，但该所仍将寻求吸引银行和对冲基金参与这个直接交易现货金属的平台。

We want to do everything short of trading futures, we don’t believe we will get a licence for that, he said.

他说：我们什么都想做，但不包括期货交易，我们认为我们拿不到这块业务的牌照。

Obviously the easier thing to provide liquidity is to offer futures contracts and allow many of the Chinese financial players to participate but that requires a licence and China today is not likely to issue a licence for someone else to issue another futures contract.

显然，要提供流动性，更容易的方式是提供期货合约，允许大量中国金融参与者参与进来，但这要求有牌照，而目前中国不大可能再颁发一块允许发行期货合约的牌照。

HKEx’s plans to establish a lookalike warehouse system come after years where the LME struggled to launch LME-branded warehouses in China — the world’s largest consumer of metals — because of government restrictions.

多年来，由于政府限制，LME难以在世界最大金属消费国中国推出LME注册仓库。如今，港交所计划在中国建立一套类似于LME仓库的仓储体系。

But the trading platform in Qianhai has won the backing of Shenzhen local government, which will part own the exchange.

前海交易平台得到了深圳地方政府的支持，后者将拥有该平台的部分股权。

Mr Li said he hoped to eventually connect the platform to the LME and allow foreign investors to invest in China’s physical metals markets.

李小加称，他希望最终将该平台与LME连通起来，从而允许境外投资者投资中国现货金属市场。

Very quickly we are going to find ways to connect the two warehouse systems, he said.

我们将很快找到连通两个仓储体系的办法，他表示。

Mr Li said the 2014 scandal around metals stored in non-LME warehouses in Qingdao, a northern port, had opened an opportunity for the LME to try to expand in China due to the lack of trust in mainland warehouse operators.

李小加称，2014年中国北方港口青岛发生与非LME仓库有关的丑闻，为LME进军中国市场打开了机会窗口，因为投资者对内地仓库运营商缺乏信任。