China launched its first spot market for natural gas on the Shanghai Petroleum Exchange on Monday to cope with peak summer electricity use, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The transaction volume on Monday reached 39.6 million tons.

It's the first time China has adjusted domestic gas demand and supply via markets during the peak power period, Shanghai Petroleum Exchange's general manager Li Qingfeng was quoted as saying.

The debut of the natural gas exchange is a seasonal exchange that aims to more efficiently allocate natural gas resources and to meet rising demand in the summer, the agency said. "(It) is in accordance with the country's energy development strategy and energy liberalization," Xinhua said.

Companies including China National Petroleum Corp, the country's biggest oil producer, China National Offshore Oil Corp, Shenergy Group, based in Shanghai, and Xinjiang Guanghui Industry Investment Group Co injected 100 million cubic meters of natural gas into the platform for exchange until Sept 15.

The move is also widely taken by market watchers as a further step toward liberalizing domestic natural gas prices after the central government debuted natural gas pricing reforms on a trial basis in southern China's Guangdong province and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region last December.

zhouyan@chinadaily.com.cn