THE Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) said it will open its delivery warehouse network to overseas investors while adding depots at home and abroad as competition with the London Metal Exchange intensifies.

The bourse plans new warehouses for copper in Guangdong Province and for aluminum in Chongqing, Chairman Yang Maijun said at the exchange's annual conference in Shanghai yesterday. He didn't say where overseas the SHFE would locate storage facilities.

Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd's acquisition of the London bourse last year put the world's biggest marketplace of industrial metals on SHFE's doorstep, sparking speculation it would pave the way for LME storehouses in China. The government still doesn't allow domestic warehouses to be used for delivery for futures products traded on overseas exchanges.

"We have to adapt our exchange to meet the global needs of industry and to be creative in realizing change," Yang said in a speech at the 10th Shanghai Derivatives Market Forum.