Maravi

(PROGRESS) Single trader holds 90% of LME copper, WSJ says

COMMENT - This article claims that at one point 50% of copper futures were held by a single trader, presumed to be JP Morgan Chase. The copper market like all financial markets is subject to speculation and manipulation, especially after 'US' banks were given trillions in the various bank bailouts.

Outsiders re-claim Africa but also stiffen the rules
Single trader holds 90% of LME copper

The gobbling up of Earth by the rich and powerful knows no bounds -- at least not until we finally realize that the worth of Mother Earth belongs to us all to share. We trim, blend, and append three 2010 articles from: (1) MarketWatch, Dec 21, on copper by Alistair Barr; (2) New York Times, Dec 21, on farmland by Neil MacFarquhar; and (3) Associated Press, Dec 15, on rules.

by Alistair Barr, by Neil MacFarquhar, and by AP
Single trader holds 90% of LME copper, WSJ says

A single trader holds up to 90% of the copper in London Metal Exchange warehouses, the Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday. The news came after copper prices hit a record and other commodities surged.

The 80% to 90% of the copper in London Metal Exchange stockpiles is equal to about half of all the exchange-registered supply of the metal in the world.

The position is worth about $3 billion.

Last month, the LME reported that a single holder owned more than 50% of the exchange’s copper. People familiar with the matter at the time said J.P. Morgan Chase was the holder.

J.P. Morgan Chase is another majority share owned/controlled Rotschild company, like De Beers. NM Rothschild & Sons was also behind the privatisation/handover of the Zambian state monopoly ZCCM, and with it the privatisation of the Zambian mining sector. - MrK

Single traders also own large holdings of other metals. One trader holds as much as 90% of the exchange’s aluminum stocks. In the nickel, zinc, and aluminum alloy markets, single traders own between 50% to 80% of those metals and one firm has 40% to 50% of the LME’s tin stockpiles.

Such positions are often owned by big firms on behalf of several clients.

While the LME does not limit how much metal a single trader may hold, it demands the dominant holder make metal available for short-term periods at very limited profit margins.

JJS: Nevertheless, it is worth it to those who can to be able to squeeze the market. So it they’re winning, are others losing? The rich and powerful not only gobble up natural resources but also surface land.


African Farmers Displaced as Investors Move In
Across Africa and the developing world, a new global land rush is gobbling up large expanses of arable land. Despite their ageless traditions, stunned villagers are discovering that African governments own their land and have been leasing it, often at bargain prices, to private investors and foreign governments for decades to come.

Some condemn the deals as neocolonial land grabs that destroy villages, uproot tens of thousands of farmers without compensation, and create a volatile mass of landless poor who end up encroaching on parkland. Further, much of the food is bound for wealthier nations.

A World Bank study released in September tallied farmland deals covering at least 110 million acres -- the size of California and West Virginia combined -- announced during the first 11 months of 2009 alone. More than 70% of those deals were for land in Africa. People have been pushed off land in Ethiopia, Uganda, the Congo, Liberia, and Zambia.

Before 2008, the global average for such deals was less than 10 million acres per year.

Many investments appear to be pure speculation that leaves land fallow.

Anger and distrust run high. In a rally last month, hundreds of farmers demanded that the Mali government halt such deals until they get a voice. Several said that they had been beaten and jailed by soldiers, but that they were ready to die to keep their land. Ibrahima Coulibaly, the head of the coordinating committee for farmer organizations, said, “If people do not stand up for their rights, they will lose everything!”

JJS: More of us must demand our right to some Earth and Earth in a healthy condition. The good news is government is moving toward curbing the worst abuses by those who expropriate natural values.


SEC proposes new mining, minerals rules
The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new reporting requirements for public companies that operate mines, pull oil or gas out of the ground, or use certain minerals from Africa in their products. Companies engaged in potentially controversial activities would become more accountable about them to shareholders.

Companies that use so-called "conflict" minerals from Congo and neighboring countries in electronics and other products would face stricter reporting requirements in order to curb the widespread violence in Congo, where minerals are extracted from mines controlled by rebel groups. The goal is to cut off funds to the rebels.

An increasing number of companies have been charged by the SEC and the Justice Department in recent years with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits bribery of foreign government officials or company executives to secure or retain business.

Companies that extract oil, natural gas, or minerals would be required to report all payments related to commercial development that were made to the US or a foreign government, including taxes, royalties, and licensing fees.

Conflict minerals are defined as gold, cassiterite, wolframite, and columbite-tantalite, also called coltan. Cassiterite and coltan are used to make cell phones, computers, and other electronics. Wolframite is used in metal seals and other components.

Public companies that operate mines would be required to reports on health and safety violations as well as any notices from the US Labor Department indicating that a mine has a pattern of violating health or safety standards.

The United Nations has imposed sanctions on armed rebel groups in Congo, who are accused of committing widespread rape, murder, and other violence in the course of their illicit minerals trafficking.

JJS: What’s going to stop these crimes? One thing -- a critical mass coming to understand that the values of nature belong to all humanity. Put into policy, that ethic becomes geonomics, which is when government recovers and shares all the money that society spends for land and resources and forgoes taxing people’s efforts and property. So, do what you can to get this ethic out!

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Editor Jeffery J. Smith runs the Forum on Geonomics.

Labels: COPPER, GLOBALISATION, SPECULATION

posted by MrK @ 3:14 PM