The first month of direct trading of the Chinese yuan and Russian ruble has been a good start, with stable demand for the Chinese currency, a senior official at the Moscow International Currency Exchange (MICEX), said Saturday.
"Trans-border trade between Russia and China has led to the launch of direct trading of ruble-yuan," Igor Marich, vice president of MICEX, told Xinhua in an interview, "I'm sure this direct trading will facilitate bilateral cooperation on economy and trade."
The Chinese yuan took an ice-breaking step on Dec. 17, when MICEX started direct ruble-yuan trading. Marich said it was a result of 10 years of preparations.
According to the Central Bank of Russia, China-Russia trade in border areas jumped more than 900 percent from 2003 to 2010.
"The two sides understood that direct trading of their currencies would have a good prospect," he said.
Marich believed that yuan-ruble trading serves the interests of banks and companies on both sides involved in bilateral trade by lowering exchange costs and risks.
"It offers market participants in both countries an open trade platform," Marich said.
"The start of the pair trading at MICEX was facilitated by the People's Bank of China, which provided the trading floor with liquidity. We, together with our Chinese partners, opened accounts in the People's Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China," he said.
Marich said that several Russian banks also offer such trading quotations.
"Market players also opened their accounts in these banks. These operations enabled traders to work with ruble-yuan pair at MICEX," he said.
So far, because of MICEX's limited capacity, it only allows the 100-percent deposit secured operations. Trading lasts for one hour from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. local time.
Marich said some 40 Russian credit institutions have opened Chinese yuan accounts, and the daily turnout fluctuates between three to four million yuan.
"This is not so much compared with ruble-dollar trades, or other currency pairs. But for the first month, this is quite a success," he said.
Marich said the next step is to depart from its 100-percent booking to further lower the costs for participants and increase the speed of decision-making.
"Later, we should move to the tomorrow and even to the two-day ahead payments," he said, "It depends on which of these options will be interesting for our participants. To do that, we should learn how to increase yuan's liquidity."
Trade between the two countries in 2010 was expected to reach 50 billion U.S. dollars. Marich predicted the volume for this year to exceed 55 billion dollars.
"The prospect of China-Russia trade is really big. The two countries have overcome the financial crisis, though it had affected bilateral trade. We believe it's natural for China and Russia to conduct payments in their national currencies," he said.
He also said yuan-ruble trading will be further promoted in the coming days.
"When two big economies interact actively, direct currency exchange would maximize the convenience of their interaction," Marich said.
"Trans-border trade between Russia and China has led to the launch of direct trading of ruble-yuan," Igor Marich, vice president of MICEX, told Xinhua in an interview, "I'm sure this direct trading will facilitate bilateral cooperation on economy and trade."
The Chinese yuan took an ice-breaking step on Dec. 17, when MICEX started direct ruble-yuan trading. Marich said it was a result of 10 years of preparations.
According to the Central Bank of Russia, China-Russia trade in border areas jumped more than 900 percent from 2003 to 2010.
"The two sides understood that direct trading of their currencies would have a good prospect," he said.
Marich believed that yuan-ruble trading serves the interests of banks and companies on both sides involved in bilateral trade by lowering exchange costs and risks.
"It offers market participants in both countries an open trade platform," Marich said.
"The start of the pair trading at MICEX was facilitated by the People's Bank of China, which provided the trading floor with liquidity. We, together with our Chinese partners, opened accounts in the People's Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China," he said.
Marich said that several Russian banks also offer such trading quotations.
"Market players also opened their accounts in these banks. These operations enabled traders to work with ruble-yuan pair at MICEX," he said.
So far, because of MICEX's limited capacity, it only allows the 100-percent deposit secured operations. Trading lasts for one hour from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. local time.
Marich said some 40 Russian credit institutions have opened Chinese yuan accounts, and the daily turnout fluctuates between three to four million yuan.
"This is not so much compared with ruble-dollar trades, or other currency pairs. But for the first month, this is quite a success," he said.
Marich said the next step is to depart from its 100-percent booking to further lower the costs for participants and increase the speed of decision-making.
"Later, we should move to the tomorrow and even to the two-day ahead payments," he said, "It depends on which of these options will be interesting for our participants. To do that, we should learn how to increase yuan's liquidity."
Trade between the two countries in 2010 was expected to reach 50 billion U.S. dollars. Marich predicted the volume for this year to exceed 55 billion dollars.
"The prospect of China-Russia trade is really big. The two countries have overcome the financial crisis, though it had affected bilateral trade. We believe it's natural for China and Russia to conduct payments in their national currencies," he said.
He also said yuan-ruble trading will be further promoted in the coming days.
"When two big economies interact actively, direct currency exchange would maximize the convenience of their interaction," Marich said.
