China overstates stockpile

18/6/14 Bloomberg
Citic Resources Holdings Ltd. (1205), the commodities trader controlled by China’s largest state-owned company, said a court has been unable to locate more than half of its alumina stored at China’s Qingdao Port. Citic sought a court order to find its copper and alumina held at the port and the court was unable to locate about 123,446 metric tons of its alumina, Citic Resources said in statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange. The company holds title documents to 223,270 metric tons of alumina and 7,486 metric tons of copper it has stored at the port, it said. Qingdao Port is counting industrial metals held in some of its bonded warehouses to determine if they match the amount in documents pledged to banks as collateral for loans, three people with knowledge of the probe said on June 5. The port is concerned that there has been multiple counting of some batches of metals including copper and aluminum, said the people. “The group will conduct its own investigation to ascertain why the court has been unable to enforce its sequestration order in respect of all of the group’s alumina,” Citic Resources said in the statement. The company will also consider “legal proceedings if necessary”.