Yurt, both your answers to yourself are correct. These are the two primary reasons people buy puts and calls.
I make directional trades regularly as my core trading strategy, although I tend to position with In The Money options. Most buying, and I suspect these out of money puts, are by funds taking cheap insurance against a big fall in the market. There are huge risks at the moment in both overall market and China commodities, so why not. It's a sound hedge.
