After a two-year trial the Shanghai Shipping Exchange (SSE) yesterday officially launched a series of indices designed to track freight trade data moving between countries involved in Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI). The indices will include a trade index, a freight volume index, and a Maritime Silk Road freight index.
The move by the SSE is the second Chinese initiative in as many months that aims to impose some financial and commercial structure on President Xi’s drive to revive the Silk Road routes between China and Europe. Last month, the China Exchanges Services Company Limited (CESC) – a JV formed by the Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Shenzhen stock exchanges – announced that it was looking to develop an index to monitor and share the financial progress of BRI companies. The index would aim to connect investors interested in investing in the Belt and Road with companies who are making the initiative happen.
“We are exploring an index to capture the stock performance of companies active in investment and business in Belt & Road countries,” CESC Chief Executive Mao Zhirong said in a press release.
Belt and Road gets own shipping index
Source: xinhuanet