The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) will set up eight international trading platforms by 2015, according to a work plan issued by the Shanghai municipal government on Wednesday.

The platforms will respectively focus on oil, gas, iron ore, cotton, liquid chemicals, silver, bulk commodities and nonferrous metals transactions, said the plan.

An earlier report by the Shanghai Securities News, quoting an FTZ official, said an international gold exchange center will start to trade gold in the FTZ on Sept 26.

In addition, the local government has submitted a plan to pilot a "parallel importing" program for automobiles in the FTZ to the Ministry of Commerce for approval. The program allows importers other than chief dealers to import foreign brand automobiles from their countries of origin.

If the program is successful, the prices of imported cars are expected to drop by at least 15 percent.