copper up, page-12

Robscot,
You are correct that it is the bottom end of the market that is being screwed with the lack if letters of credit. BHPB, RIO and Vale are doing fine. And since they pretty much don't participate in the spot market, they are unaffected.

I was talking to my mate who works for BHP at the pointy end, he was in a meeting the other day with Marius, the head of marketing and the head of China Ops, The marketing guy said the LOC were screwing the smaller guy, but they were fine since their contracts are so rigorous and they get pre-payment before delivery, the China Ops guy said a slight slowdown at the moment, which is still bloody fast by other peoples standards and then Chinese govt. stimulus packages and extreme long term growth makes the medium to long term future look pretty good.

With respect to shipments of bulks going to China, BHP can't provide it fast enough and don't have a tonne spare.

choice