The Dalian Commodity Exchange starts trading fiberboard and blockboard futures contracts on Dec 6, bringing the number of the country’s listed futures to 40.

Fiberboard and blockboard are important forest products and are used in industries such as forestry, furniture, decoration and automobile manufacturing.

Shi Feng, secretary-general of China National Forest Products Industry Association, said China is the world’s top manufacturer and consumer of wood-based panels.

In 2012, more than 500,000 people were engaged in the nation’s man-made board sector. The production reached more than 200 million cubic meters and the market size exceeded 300 billion yuan ($50 billion), he said.

Shi said the futures will help set industry standards and promote the upgrading of the industry.

For instance, the contracts make strict standards on formaldehyde content, an important index for the quality of wood panels.