Commodity traders Glencore and Trafigura have picked up a combined 70 479 t of aluminium over the past week by winning online auctions of metal inventory dating back to China’s 2014 Qingdao warehousing scandal, according to the e-commerce platform that hosted the sales.
The stock, being auctioned on a JD.com site by the Qingdao Intermediate People’s Court, was formerly held by Dezheng Resources, the company accused of duplicating warehouse certificates to pledge metal as collateral for multiple bank loans.