They are coming:
CONVERTIBILITY
In a related development this month, the official China Daily reported that China had approved the establishment of a free trade zone in Shanghai that would experiment with convertibility of the yuan currency.
Beijing's new leaders, who took over in March, have signalled they want to quicken the process of making the yuan fully convertible over the next few years, as part of efforts to increase its use in trade and support wider financial reforms. The commodity warehouses, being in the free-trade zones, could be pioneers in this process.
Top metals producers in China are already building storage depots in Shanghai's free-trade zone.
One, Jiangxi Copper, China's biggest producer of the metal, was willing to get approval from the LME, a company source said. The firm already runs a logistics company there.
Jinchuan Group, China's third-largest copper producer and top nickel producer, and Maike Metals, China's top private metals trader, are jointly building a warehouse in the zone, trading sources said.
Other free trade zones, once established, could also host warehouses operated by foreign businesses.
The eastern port city of Tianjin and Zhoushan Islands near Ningbo, the third-largest port of China, have also submitted proposals to Beijing to establish free-trade zones, the first source with knowledge of the policy said.
Boosting logistics business in the free-trade zones is expected to bring in more international banks, one of the sources said.
"Trade is always linked to financing, which has to be done by big banks. That also relates to the yuan going into the international market," the source said, declining to be named because he was not authorised to talk about the topi
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