China has approved a new oil futures contract, with the world’s largest importer of oil saying it hopes to attract foreign investors and brokers in an effort to gain greater pricing power.

The oil futures will be the country’s first international futures contracts and a global trade and settlement platform will be built, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said on its website. The announcement did not give a launch date for the contract.

China’s futures markets are playing an increasingly important role in influencing prices for the world’s commodities, especially in metals, where China is the largest consumer. Increasingly the volumes traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange are equal to the London Metal Exchange and the Comex in the US put together, says Macquarie.