State Reserves Bureau copper scandal
Encyclopedia
State Reserve Bureau
The State Reserve Bureau also known as State Bureau of Material Reserve is part of the National Development and Reform Commission of the government of China....
of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
at the London Metal Exchange
London Metal Exchange
The London Metal Exchange is the futures exchange with the world's largest market in options, and futures contracts on base and other metals. As the LME offers contracts with daily expiry dates of up to three months from trade date, along with longer-dated contracts up to 123 months, it also...
in 2005. The incident caused copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
to hit a record $4,160 a metric ton on Thursday November 17, 2005 and caused it to be reported as one of the major trading incidents in history.
The trader Liu Qibing had been active on the London Metal Exchange and had for some time taken a number of short positions in copper, borrowing the metal at current price, hoping that the prices would fall. When prices did not fall, and rose instead, Liu Qibing disappeared from public view for some time.
At first, some officials at the Chinese State Reserves Bureau denied knowing Liu Qibing and stated that the State Reserves Bureau was not even involved in short selling copper. However, other traders at the London Metals Exchange stated that they knew him as China's main metals trader. The State Reserves Bureau then acknowledged knowing Liu Qibing, but stated that he had been on leave. Later, the State Reserves Bureau announced that the trader had acted on his own, without authorization. Eventually, China started to auction large quantities of copper to drive prices down.
In 2008, Liu Qibing and his supervisor both went on trial in China, accused of breaking various regulations.
External links
- Time Magazine: Buy Sell, Run http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1132857,00.html
- The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/china/article590311.ece - International Herald TribuneInternational Herald TribuneThe International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/18/business/copper.php - BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7206798.stm - Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/24/AR2005112400785_pf.html
- Aisa One News http://english.caijing.com.cn/2008-04-27/100058603.html