BEIJING - China will allow overseas individual investors to participate in the trading of iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange starting Wednesday, the exchange said in an online statement Tuesday.

The announcement came after the country opened iron ore futures to foreign institutional investors in May last year as part of the financial opening-up efforts.

Iron ore contracts were launched in 2013 and broadly traded among producers and traders, with futures prices closely correlated to spot prices.

By including overseas investors, futures prices should better reflect the global iron ore market, Li Zhengqiang, president of the exchange, has said.

China is the world's largest importer of iron ore, with imports of the commodity exceeding 1 billion metric tons last year.