China launched trading of yuan-denominated crude oil futures contracts at the Shanghai International Energy Exchange on Monday, which is China's first international futures for overseas investors.

The listed futures for trading are contracts to be delivered from September this year to March 2019. And the opening transaction price started from 440 yuan ($70.36) per barrel. The transaction deposit is 7 percent of the contract value, and the daily price fluctuation is restricted to 5 percent.

In all, 413 companies participated in the first-day trading, and the first companies to reach a deal included China National United Oil Corporation, Unipec Asia Co Ltd and Glencore Singapore Pte Ltd.

According to the design plan, China's crude oil is yuan-denominated, but the US dollar and other foreign currencies are accepted as deposit.

China's crude oil futures trading has been prepared over 17 years since it was first studied by Shanghai Futures Exchange in 2001.

China's crude oil demand increased rapidly in recent years, and in 2014 the country surpassed the United States to be the world's largest net importer of crude oil. The crude oil futures can form a pricing system that reflects the supply-demand relationship in China and the Asia-Pacific region, which is conducive for enterprises to avoid the risk of oil price fluctuation.