China's futures trading volume in August was 1.67 trillion yuan (208 billion U.S. dollars), up 39 percent over the same month last year and down 6.7 percent over July, according to the China Futures Association.

The total transaction volume for the first eight months was 13.55 trillion yuan, an increase of 54.55 percent over the same period last year.

The Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE), one of China's three futures trading markets, reported in August transactions worth 1.08 trillion yuan, 62 percent up from August 2005 and accounting for 65 percent of the country's total futures transaction volume.

China has three futures exchanges: the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE), the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE), and the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE). Both the ZCE and DCE trade agricultural products while the SHFE provides futures contracts on other commodities such as copper, aluminum and rubber.

Source: Xinhua