First of all, when the copper prices in London and Shanghai are suitable, first make a buying transaction in the London metal market, which is usually called "spot price" by people in the industry. The so-called price comparison between the two places is appropriate, and different enterprises have different scales. Under normal circumstances, the ratio of Shanghai copper price to London copper price is above 8.3, which is a reasonable price comparison and conducive to imports. However, due to the existence of risk-free arbitrage and arbitrage, the rate of return of the projects invested by some enterprises after financing is very high, so this price ratio can be lowered and the price ratio of imports can be adjusted according to the target income of enterprises.
While pricing in London, enterprises need to make corresponding short positions in Shanghai copper market, which can also be called "hedge positions". In this way, the risks and benefits of price fluctuation can be locked in the whole financing process of goods import and export. For example, a batch of 1000 tons of goods bought at a fixed price in June 5438+February last year took more than 1 month, and sold at the end of June this year 1. In the whole process, the domestic copper futures price rose from 54,000 yuan/ton in June+February, 5438 to about 60,000 yuan/ton in June+10, 5438, and the short loss in the futures market was about 6 million yuan. However, in the spot market, the cost of importing copper is about 54,000 yuan/ton. 1 month later, it was sold in the spot market at a price of about 6 1.500 yuan/ton. During this period, the profit of the enterprise was about 7.5 million, and the risks and benefits were basically locked in the futures markets of the two places.
Secondly, enterprises can open letters of credit with banks after signing import contracts with foreign parties. The so-called letter of credit, the enterprise can not deliver the payment to the foreign party first, and the bank will pay the payment before the acceptance date of the letter of credit expires. According to the requirements of different enterprises, the acceptance date of letters of credit can be divided into 90 days and 180 days. According to the different credit of enterprises, banks will let enterprises pay a certain percentage of letter of credit deposit when opening letters of credit. Generally, for enterprises with good reputation, the margin ratio is about 15% to 30%.
Thirdly, enterprises will sell these imported copper in the domestic market according to the market price and cash out the funds. Because this part of the funds can be repaid after 90 days or 180 days, during this period, this part of the payment of the enterprise is equivalent to a short-term loan. If the enterprise invests in a project with high returns, it can operate the above process again in 90 days or 180 days, so that the newly obtained letter of credit funds can repay the previous letter of credit funds, which is equivalent to a longer financing loan.
It should be pointed out that at present, in addition to import financing, due to the appreciation of RMB and the spread between local and foreign currencies, many enterprises can also carry out arbitrage transactions from it. After the import letter of credit is issued, the bank will deliver it to the foreign seller in foreign currency (mostly US dollars), and the buyer can pay it to the bank in foreign currency after the acceptance period, or purchase foreign exchange to pay in RMB. Under the expectation of RMB appreciation, the exchange rate after 90 days or 180 days will definitely be beneficial to the purchaser, so the enterprise chooses the latter, that is, to repay by purchasing foreign exchange. In the past year, the RMB appreciated by 7% against the US dollar. According to this expectation, after 90 days, these financiers will also get 1.75% from the exchange rate arbitrage, and after 1.80 days, this income will be 3.5%.
The interest to be borne by the buyer before the acceptance date of the letter of credit is Libor+ 100, and the Libor interest rate of USD 5,438+10 in June is about 4%, so the cost of using this fund for half a year is about 5% per year, while the current annual interest rate of RMB loans in China is 6.57%, with a spread of 1.57%. As the dollar continues to cut interest rates, this spread arbitrage space will be even greater.