Yuan-denominated crude futures make steady progress

China's crude oil futures contracts have so far been widely considered a success, yet the market still has a long way to go to catch up with mature international crude benchmarks, analysts said.

The trading volume and open interest of the crude oil futures contract at the Shanghai International Energy Exchange has been steadily increasing, a positive sign in the two and a half months since trading began, said Zhang Hongmin from the exchange.

The trading volume hit 65,000 lots per day and 3.5 million lots in total by the end of June 8, with daily transactions reaching 30 billion yuan ($4.7 billion), he said.