Trafigura's Impala Terminals Scraps Chinese Joint Venture

Commodity trader Trafigura said its logistics and warehouse unit Impala Terminals has scrapped plans for a metals warehousing joint venture in China and will also exit its refined base metals business.

 

Trafigura had announced a joint venture last October with Citics Global Trade, a subsidiary of Citic Securities Co Ltd , China's largest investment bank.

 

"This (cancellation) is due to the necessary conditions not being in place," Trafigura said in a statement on Tuesday, giving no further details.

 

The statement did not mention suspected metals financing fraud at China's Qingdao port, but last year Trafigura said a probe had affected some partners and hit confidence in the industry as a whole.

 

Chinese authorities launched in investigation in May 2014 at Qingdao, the world's seventh-busiest port, and nearby Penglai, into whether fake warehouse receipts were used to obtain multiple loans secured against a single cargo of metal.

 

Trafigura also said Impala planned to exit its remaining base metal businesses, having said last December it was sharply cutting the number of its London Metal Exchange (LME) approved warehouses to only two locations, Antwerp and Dubai.

 

"Following a strategic review due to slowing market conditions, Impala Terminals will in future focus on export markets for bulk commodities (dry/wet) and on its larger, capital intensive port and terminal developments," Trafigura said.

 

LME data on warehouse companies on Aug. 10 showed Impala had only 1,982 tonnes of metals at Antwerp. A separate LME notice on Tuesday said Impala was delisting its Dubai warehouse, which contained no metal.

 

Trafigura, one of the world's largest commodities traders, had previously operated a string of LME warehouses through its Impala unit in Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Turkey and Italy.

 

Trafigura bought warehousing company North European Marine Services (NEMS) in 2010 and later consolidated all of its warehousing and logistics activities into its subsidiary Impala.

 

Trafigura's global metals and minerals trading division has seen an exodus of staff this year, including trading chief Simon Collins.