Posted on 06/04/2014 7:04:02 PM PDT by dynachrome
China's northeastern port of Qingdao has halted shipments of aluminium and copper due to an investigation by authorities, causing concern among bankers and trade houses financing the metals, trading and warehousing sources said on Monday.
Port authorities could not immediately be reached for comment. China has a public holiday on Monday.
"We were told we can't ship any material out while they do this investigation," a source at a trading house said.
The port of Qingdao is China's third-largest foreign trade port and the world's seventh-largest port, trading with 700 ports in more than 180 countries, according to its website
"We hear the discrepancy is 80,000 tonnes of aluminium and 20,000 tonnes of copper, but we hear that the volumes will actually be higher. It's either missing or it was never there - there have been triple issuing of documentation," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at in.reuters.com ...
Could be a train wreck coming up.
;)
Yeah, if you need a kidney transplant, now’s the time to get your order in.
It’s not for lack of available volumes.
Spot price of copper is about $6700 per tonne. A little quick math gives 20000 tonnes is worth about $134 million.
“$134 million”
It may not seem like much, but the article sez that the metals may have been ‘re-hypothecated’, used as collateral more than once. If so and no longer there, who knows how much money is involved.
The “missing” metal never existed, except on paper.
It was pledged as collateral for loans time and time again. In financial terms, the word is “rehypothication,” which means that numerous parties use the same physical asset for collateral in multiple transactions.
Now, all the payments have come due, and there is no metal for creditors to seize, since it never existed in the first place.
China is on the precipice of the most cataclysmic financial collapse the world has ever seen. This is the first chapter.
There's a word that could only fool an MBA.
I wonder how many times ‘bama has sold the gold in Ft. Knox.
Or had the Fed do it
Regarding solar cells from China? ;-)
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