Tokyo: Japan on Wednesday will end 115 years
of raw silk futures trading that help to support its
modernisation through the latter half of the 19th century but
declined during the course of post-war industrial
restructuring.
As demand for futures to cover spot price fluctuation
risks has declined due to a decrease in spot transactions,
the Tokyo Grain Exchange decided September 15 to delist the
raw silk futures tomorrow in the wake of similar action by
another exchange in the country.
Japan initiated a raw silk futures exchange at the
trading centre of Yokohama in 1894 after its first state-run
silk mill went on stream in Tomioka, Gunma Prefecture, in
1872.
Raw silk futures exchanges then opened at various
places in Japan before being integrated into two markets in
Yokohama and Kobe.
Cocoon and raw silk production was once positioned as
the means to earn foreign currencies to enhance Japan's
wealth and Army before World War II. Raw silk accounted for
some 70 percent of Japan's exports at one point.
As some 40 percent of Japanese farming families
undertook cocoon production at the beginning of the Showa Era
from 1925, Japan was the world's largest cocoon producer.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, September 30, 2009, 16:14