Tokyo: Japan is preparing to create the world’s first futures trading contract for liquefied natural gas in a bid to stabilise the commodity’s price as demand soars, an industry ministry official said yesterday.
Resource-poor Japan and neighbouring South Korea are the world’s two top buyers of LNG with East Asia accounting for about 60 percent of global demand, but the region also tends to pay higher prices with shipping costs expensive and rates varying from place to place.
Big price differences for LNG underscored the need for its own trading contract, the industry ministry official said.
Tokyo wants to make the contract a reality within two years, he added. QNA
