Singapore: Impala Terminals, Trafigura’s logistics and warehousing unit, is exiting its third-party refined metals sites in Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and South Korea to focus its business at its own facilities in China, Antwerp and Dubai.
"We are exiting third-party warehouses and focusing our energies on four locations where we lease or own the site and employ our own staff,” Trafigura said in a statement as it released its annual report.
Impala will cease operation at its third-party warehouses in southeast Asia, plus those in Turkey and Italy by the end of 2014, Reuters reports.
The suspected metals financing fraud at Qingdao port, China, has not had a “material” effect on Impala Terminals, parent Trafigura said, but has affected some partners’ confidence in the industry as a whole.
"In China, we are restructuring our activities to strengthen operational control on the ground," Trafigura said in the report.
In May, Chinese authorities began investigating whether fake warehouse receipts were used to obtain multiple loans secured against a single cargo of metal at Qingdao port and nearby Penglai.
"Impala Terminals is focusing on export markets for bulk commodities (dry/wet) and on its larger, capital-intensive port and terminal developments selectively on a global basis," Trafigura said. [9/12/14]
