Chapter 860: Hoarding, rising prices!

Mexico City, Grupo Mexicano de Cobre.

At this time, after two days of intense negotiations, the two sides finally reached an agreement and were ready to sign the acquisition agreement.

The two parties were Grupo Mexicano de Cobre and Xia Yu's group.

Of course, because they had to try to hide it, the agreement was signed in the name of an offshore registered shell company.

When the signatures were finished and the agreement exchanged, there was a burst of applause in the conference room, as if celebrating the closing of this big deal.

The 82,300 tons of mined copper currently stored in the warehouses of Grupo Mexicano de Cobre were all bought by Jin Jiajun at a price of 1,400 US dollars per ton, with a total transaction price of 115.22 million US dollars.

In fact, this price is not considered low, as it is more than ten US dollars per tonne higher than the futures price on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

However, this was still the result after two days of negotiation, and the members of the negotiation team from Grupo Mexico were unwilling to budge.

Jin Jiarui also knew that Grupo Mexico was aware of the futures market, and was obviously taking advantage of the situation. However, Grupo Mexico did not have a monopoly on the market, so they did not have much confidence to hold out, and knew when to quit.

Of course, the deal could be closed so quickly because Jin Jiajun had received orders not to care about some costs and to complete the transaction as soon as possible.

After declining the invitation to lunch from Mexico Copper Group, Jin Jiajun returned to the hotel with the acquisition team, where the eight people sat in a circle, awaiting Jin Jiajun's instructions.

'The most important task that the boss gave us has been completed, and this could not have been done without everyone's hard work and dedication. I would like to thank you all!'

'Manager, this is what we should do, and your contribution is the greatest.'

'Yes, yes...'

Jin Jiajun smiled slightly, interrupted everyone's flattery, and said in a stern voice, 'In the time to come, I plan to acquire the copper mines held by other mining companies in Mexico. I have already asked the boss for five days!'

After saying this, Jin Jiajun paused for a moment, spread his fingers and said to the group, 'The boss hopes that we will acquire more than eight floors of the existing mined copper mines in Mexico within five days, the more the better, because we have to pursue efficiency, so we are allowed to negotiate for a larger space...'

...

After some discussion, the team of Jin Jiajun got to work again.

Over the next five days, the group of Jin Jiajun went from one mining company to another in Mexico, and whenever they went to the door, they didn't return empty-handed, and their efficiency was extremely high.

Mining transactions are no different from others, and it is often necessary to negotiate for a long time for every tonne of a few dollars. However, after Jin Jiajun and the others produced the agreement signed with the Mexican Copper Group, the various mining companies immediately fell behind in the negotiations, and few of the companies' quotes were higher than those of the Mexican Copper Group.

It wasn't just the Jin Jiajun team that excelled, but also the other teams, which made equally astonishing progress.

Every day that passed, the amount of copper and aluminium in stock in Xia Yu's hands skyrocketed. Of course, since these stocks were all registered with offshore shell companies, many people were unaware of the actual situation.

The impact did not begin to be felt until some companies were running low on copper and aluminium and had to go to mining companies to purchase them.

...

Antofagasta Mining, Chile, business reception room.

A shocked and incredulous voice came from the room, causing the passing employees to stop in their tracks.

'What?'

'Manager Loftus, are you sure you're not joking?'

'Your price-gouging tactics are a bit clumsy!'

Looking at the middle-aged white man opposite him, who had stood up and was staring with wide eyes, Itaca Loftus, the sales manager of Antofagasta Mining Chile, looked helpless and said with a shrug of his shoulders: 'Mr. Robin, I really am not joking with you. If you had come five days earlier, our company would still have 75,000 tons of copper metal.'

'Manager Loftus, 75,000 tons of copper metal is worth over 100 million US dollars. I don't think any company has that kind of capital to stockpile so much raw material, unless their boss has a rat in his brain!'

'Manager Loftus, our two companies have been cooperating for ten years. I've been taken in twice before, but this time, you won't fool me!'

'When I arrived, I saw mountains of copper metal in your warehouse!'

Scott Robin, the purchasing manager of Chilean platinum machinery manufacturing company, exclaimed, still not believing Itaca Loevite's words.

Itaca Loefte grinned a little embarrassedly, then explained helplessly: 'Mr. Robin, I really don't lie to you. The copper you saw has already been purchased and is just temporarily stored in our warehouse. Not only have 75,000 tons of copper been purchased, but the buyer has also paid an advance deposit and signed an agreement with our company to purchase 10,000 tons of copper. Even with our company's strength, it would take almost a month to produce 10,000 tons of copper.'

'This means that if you place an order now, we can only supply you in a month!'

Scott Robin shook his head like a rattle, saying, 'A month is not enough. You know that our company is the largest machinery manufacturer in Chile. The copper metal raw materials in the warehouse are only enough for eight days. You can't let our company stop for more than 20 days!'

Itaca Loftus sighed and said with great regret, 'Mr. Robin, there's nothing I can do. You'll just have to go to other mining companies to see if they have any stock.'

After saying this, he hesitated for a moment, thinking about his many years of friendship with Scott Robin, and felt that he should still give him a heads-up, so he said, 'Mr. Robin, I have some bad news for you. Not only has our company's copper metal been acquired, I've heard that the copper metal of other mining companies has also been acquired.'

Scott Robin's eyes widened again, and he stared at Itaca Loefte intently. He realised that he wasn't joking, and his heart sank. A bad feeling came over him.

Thinking about the company's huge daily consumption of copper, he felt a tingling in the scalp. He swallowed hard and said hoarsely:

"Manager Loefte, are you sure about this news?'

Itaca Loftus pondered for a moment and nodded slowly.

Scott Robin's face completely changed, as dark as a pot sticker.

He anxiously stood up and paced back and forth in the business reception room, clenching and unclenching his fists.

He looked up sharply at Itaca Loftus and said, 'Manager Loftus, I wonder if you could do me a favour. Since the copper metal purchased by the last buyer is still temporarily stored with you, why don't you sell some to me first and then make up the difference later?'

Itaca Loftus immediately shook his head: 'Mr. Robin, please forgive me for not being able to help you with this. The agreement we signed already stipulates that if we are found to have appropriated the acquired copper metal without authorization, we will need to pay an additional liquidated damages of 20 million U.S. dollars. I dare not take this risk. I'm really sorry!'

'Mr. Robin, I suggest you go ask other companies. Hurry up, if you're late, maybe other buyers will get there first?'

Scott Robin suddenly woke up, said thank you, and immediately left with his people.

In just one day, he visited six mining companies that would mine copper, and was told that the metal copper was sold out and would not be available for a month.

When he walked out of the seventh mining company, Scott Robin was already distracted, like a walking dead, and the phrase 'how to explain to the president...' kept echoing in his mind.

In fact, Scott Robin is not an exception.

Not only Chile, after all, is only a developing country in South America, with a relatively weak industrial base and not a large demand for metal raw materials.

The key is still some large industrial manufacturing companies in Europe and the United States. When they are ready to purchase copper and aluminium, they learn that both metals have been bought out by different buyers not long ago, but all of them have one characteristic in common: they were previously unknown.

Combined with the smoke and mirrors on the futures market, it would be strange if they didn't understand.

It must be a long that has hoarded the spot goods!

Unfortunately, they are not sure which long has bought the spot goods. They can't find those buyers at all, as if they have vanished into thin air.

As a last resort, one industrial manufacturing company after another began to look for which mining companies still had copper and aluminium.

In order to facilitate price increases, Xia Yu did not buy up all the copper and aluminium on the market, but still left quite a lot.

But for the manufacturing companies, which had already reacted and were even a little panicked, these quantities were simply too little for too many.

The unscrupulous mining companies that still had copper and aluminium in their possession revealed their true colours and announced price increases, and not just any increases either.

With the threat of factories ceasing operations on the one hand and ever-increasing raw material prices on the other, although annoyed, the various manufacturing companies still bought with a pinch of their nose, which further pushed up the prices of copper and aluminium.

Spot prices soared, far exceeding futures prices.

The most well-informed financial institutions had already mobilised funds to enter the market, joining the camp – long positions!

The shorts, led by Philipp Brothers and Salomon Brothers, panicked.