Chinese commodity trader’s US$20m shipment of Russian copper gone missing: fraud questions

Bloomberg (gated) have the report on a China state-owned commodities trader losses after a shipment of copper from Russia worth nearly $20 million went missing. Bloomberg citing unnamed sources.

This is, naturally, raising questions over fraud.

Main points:

• Wuchan Zhongda Group Co., a huge Chinese trader (sales of 580 bn yuan in 2023), bought 2,000 tons of refined copper from a Russian smelter
• should have been delivered in May
• Instead, the metal was listed as much cheaper granite and has likely ended up in Turkey, according to the records of the shipping line that handled the consignment, the people said

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.