China (finally) takes over global commodities trading

A handful of private firms dominate global commodities trading and finance.

The industry is poorly regulated--by design--and as a result entire supply chain systems for raw materials and logistics are highly vulnerable to malfeasance and criminal activity.

Recent scandals and crimes by Trafigura and other firms pose particular risk to Chinese downstream companies, who are the world's top buyers for minerals and metals, crude oil, and agricultural products.

A new state-owned company in Shanghai will vertically integrate the country's commodities trading with the rest of the world.

The “Shanghai Price” system will pull the world’s commodities trade out of London and New York, and further accelerate de-dollarization trends.

Closing scene, Lujiazui, Shanghai

Resources and links:

China Consumes Mind-Boggling Amounts of Raw Materials [Chart]
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/chin...

Bloomberg, Gupta Says He Doesn’t Know Where Trafigura’s Nickel Millions Are
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...

Trafigura Nickel Fraud Exposes $600M Global Trading Vulnerabilities
https://discoveryalert.com.au/regulat...

Trafigura: A Toxic Journey
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/new...

CFTC Orders Trafigura to Pay $55 Million for Fraud, Manipulation and Impeding Communications with the CFTC
https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressR...

Why Trafigura pled guilty to a decade of bribery
https://vinciworks.com/resources-file...

Trafigura launched governance overhaul after “humbling” Mongolia fraud
https://www.gtreview.com/news/asia/tr...

Swiss corruption case involving Trafigura and former executive opens
https://www.reuters.com/business/ener...

Bloomberg, Shanghai Sets Up Big Commodities Trading Firm to Boost Influence
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...

Shanghai launches state-owned commodities trading firm to rival Trafigura
https://www.scmp.com/business/commodi...