As early as the16th century, the Sumitomo family developed and became the official copper supplier in Japan, mainly serving some powerful families in Japan at that time, including the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled Japan for more than 200 years from 1603 to 1868. At that time, the head of the family proudly declared that Sumitomo Trading Company was the largest copper exporter in the world.
/kloc-In the mid-9th century, the Japanese market gradually opened to the west, and Sumitomo Trading Co., Ltd. also developed more extensively in iron and steel smelting, steelmaking and other fields. By the beginning of the 20th century, the Sumitomo family had rapidly developed into the third largest financial chaebol in Japan.
During the 1930s and World War II, some monopoly groups with political influence became the main followers of Japanese militarism, and Sumitomo Corporation was no exception. During this period, the family centralization of Sumitomo consortium became more obvious, and most of its industries were concentrated in the hands of Sumitomo family. By 1937 and 16 generations, the Sumitomo family has mastered as much as 90% of the total share capital of the consortium.
After Japan's defeat, the chaebol disintegrated and reorganized into enterprise groups under the restriction of the United States. The political and economic influence of the Sumitomo family in Japan has also been greatly weakened. However, with the recovery of Japan's economy after the war, Sumitomo Consortium made a comeback and grew stronger and stronger. Since then, Sumitomo Corporation has participated more extensively in international trade activities in the fields of metals, machinery, petroleum, chemicals, food and textiles, and has become the core enterprise of Sumitomo Consortium and one of the four largest traders in Japan.
1995 fiscal year, Sumitomo's global total sales reached 16 trillion yen, amounting to146.8 billion US dollars.
From June 65438 to June 0996, the Sumitomo family faced a historic catastrophe. Moreover, this disaster is precisely the magic weapon that once brought wealth to the Sumitomo family-the gold rush. The perpetrator was Bin Zhongtai, chief trader of Nonferrous Metals Trade Department.
Binzhongtai male has two very intriguing nicknames, one is "100% Mr.five" and the other is "Hammer". The former is a respectful name for his ability by insiders, while the latter is depicting his character.
People in the industry call him "Mr.five" because Sumitomo Nonferrous Metals Trading Department, led by Tadao Hamada, controls 5% of the global copper trading volume. It can be seen that Nobuyuki Hamanaka's outstanding achievements in international copper futures trading also reflect the great influence of Sumitomo Corporation's trading decision on the international steel market.
"Hammer" comes from hamanaka's English translation name yasuo hamanaka, because Hamanaka's pronunciation in English is very similar to "hammer". However, the reason why this nickname can be called out is mainly because it embodies the hammer-like hard character of Bin Zhongtai. This character contributed to his success, but perhaps it was this character that contributed to his failure.
1970, 22-year-old Binzhongtai male joined Sumitomo Trading Company. Since then, he has been in the international copper market for more than 20 years. It is extremely unusual for Hamanaka to maintain this identity for a long time. According to Japanese business insiders, Japanese trading banks usually adjust their traders every two to three years. It can be seen that Hamanaka's ability in trading is extraordinary.
In the late 1970s, Tadao Hamada finally had the opportunity to participate in the metal futures trading on the London Metal Exchange, when he was mainly engaged in tin and nickel futures contracts.
At first, he was not famous, just an ordinary shop assistant. But in just a few years, Nomi Hamanaka began to show his heroic qualities. By 1983, his copper trading volume had reached 65.438 billion tons per year. By the end of 1980s, he had occupied a place among the major international copper futures companies, that is, at that time, he called out "100% Mr.five" and "Hammer".
However, no one may have thought that Nobuyuki Hamanaka would make such an "unprecedented" super mistake later. People have completely changed their views on him after he brought losses of up to $4 billion to Sumitomo Trading Company. Akiyama Tomiichi, president of Sumitomo Corporation, had to admit that it was a mistake to reuse Hamanaka, and announced his dismissal. He said gloomily:
"In my impression, he is very self-controlled and logical, so I trust him and appoint him as the chief metal trader. But I am very disappointed now! "
Tadao Hamada's mistake was to use the company's name to trade copper futures in private accounts. It is his "hammer" character that caused him and Sumitomo Trading Company to suffer huge losses of $654.38+09 billion.
Binzhongtainan holds a long position in copper futures trading, that is, buying a large number of copper futures contracts is undoubtedly profitable when copper prices rise, and Binzhongtainan has secretly enjoyed it. However, since 1995, the international copper price has fallen again and again. 19951October 20th, the international copper price was as high as $3,075 per ton, but it fell below $2,600 per ton at the beginning of 1996. The continuous decline in copper prices not only exhausted the profits of the bulls in Binzhong Tainan, but also caused considerable losses.
In fact, according to Wang Guanqi, president of the London Metal Exchange, as early as the end of 199 1, they had noticed Tadao Hamada's behavior and warned him many times.
199 1 year 1 1 month, Jin received a letter from Shirel Kaide, president of dlt brokerage company, which revealed that Binzhongnan had asked him to illegally provide him with false transaction certificates and suggested that Binzhongnan be investigated.
The president in charge of trading also summoned Tadao Hamada and another trader more than once. At the end of 199 1 and 1993, the London Metal Exchange expressed some concerns about the size of Sumitomo Corporation's position in the copper market of the exchange.
In June 1995, June 10, June 165438+ 10, some people have realized that the price difference of monthly copper futures contracts is unreasonable and asked the board of directors to conduct a detailed investigation. After clearly understanding the positions held by each customer in various contracts and the ownership of warehouse receipts in the exchange warehouse, the London Metal Exchange set up a special committee composed of unrelated professionals with no fundamental conflicts of interest to discuss how to deal with them. This special Committee includes famous lawyers and senior executives in the industry.
However, it is Nobuyuki Hamanaka's "hammer" character that pushes him away from the abyss again. He naively believes that with its strong financial strength, it will definitely curb the strong momentum of the continuous decline of copper prices. The poor performance of fundamentals is no longer important in his expanding mind, so under his control, the copper price of the London Stock Exchange was slightly stable at the close of 1995.
The abnormal fluctuation of copper price once again attracted the attention of British and American securities and futures regulatory authorities, and Hamanaka's attempt to manipulate the market was gradually exposed. The dual pressure of the regulatory authorities to trace and deal with huge losses made Tainan, Zhong Bin unbearable. 1In May 1996, the copper price in London had fallen below $2,500 per ton, and rumors about Binzhongtai's forced resignation were also circulated everywhere. People in the industry are worried that once such a prominent figure who plays a huge supporting role in copper prices withdraws, how can international copper prices stand up? As a result, stimulated by these rumors, a large number of panic selling caused copper prices to plummet by about 25% in the following weeks.
1June 5, 996, the scandal of Binzhongtai's unauthorized participation in copper futures trading was gradually made public in new york. 1On June 24, 1996, Sumitomo Corporation announced a huge loss of1900 million US dollars and dismissed Tadao Hamada. The copper price has dropped from 2 165 USD per ton 24 hours ago to the lowest point of 2 years 1860 USD per ton, and the plunging trend is staggering.
According to the price at that time, Sumitomo's loss was about $65.438+09 billion, but the subsequent panic selling hit expanded Sumitomo's long position loss to $4 billion.
After the incident, people are curious about who earned Sumitomo's money, because this is not a general business curiosity, but the whereabouts of these funds to some extent determine who will play a greater role in the copper futures market in the future.
Futures trading is a zero-sum transaction, and some people will lose and some will earn. So who did Sumitomo's huge losses flow to?
At present, some international funds, including American financial giants, are shorting international copper futures. Soros's Quantum Fund was famous for "beating" the British government in the pound crisis in 1980s, Robinson's Tiger Fund, Canadian billionaire Blake, and at least one well-known European metal trader.
Some traders believe that these funds control the overall situation more or less. However, few people know how much they have benefited from this turmoil and their possible impact on future copper prices.
However, Soros's spokesman strongly denied it in new york on June 18, and said that Soros did not participate in this market and had no business dealings with Tadao Hamada. As a result, who made the money of Sumitomo Trading Company suddenly became a fog-after all, it is better to be careful with Sumitomo consortium with deep pockets and not to tell anyone when it makes money.
At present, although the international copper price is basically stable, the scenery has gone, and traders generally believe that once Sumitomo is long, the copper price will continue to fall. However, American Trust Bank and American and Australian traders are speculating that Sumitomo may have closed its position, so the market should not worry too much. However, metal traders in Japan and Asia are cautious and skeptical.
In short, once Sumitomo Corporation's strong bullish position in international copper futures is shaken, the international copper price is bound to continue to weaken, not to mention the growth rate of world copper production is much higher than that of consumption in recent years. Therefore, some traders predict that the international copper price will fluctuate between $65,438+$0.750-$65,438+$0.950 per ton in the second half of this year, and it is only an extravagant hope to return to more than $2,000 per ton.
After the Sumitomo incident, Sumitomo Corporation President Akihito Fujii still vowed in the announcement that Sumitomo Corporation would maintain its normal operation and continue to actively and extensively participate in international copper futures and other commodities trading. Moreover, despite the huge losses, Sumitomo's financial system and financial strength are still strong. However, Standard & Poor's (Asia), a world-renowned credit rating agency, has downgraded Sumitomo Corporation's short-term credit rating from a- 1+ to A-L, and said that it will continue to conduct credit surveys on Sumitomo Corporation and its two branches. New york's Moody's credit rating agency also issued a statement after the Sumitomo incident, planning to downgrade Sumitomo's senior debt rating AA-3.
Qiushui Fukui also promised that Sumitomo Corporation would actively cooperate with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the British Securities Investment Commission and relevant Japanese departments to further investigate the matter. The London Metal Exchange also held an emergency meeting and formulated many emergency measures to stabilize the transaction. The financial departments in new york and Japan also took actions one after another, trying to keep the market turmoil caused by Sumitomo incident to a minimum.
Sumitomo incident (1995 ——1996)
Sumitomo Corporation is a super-large group integrating finance, trade, metallurgy, machinery, petroleum, chemicals, food and textiles in Japan. Among the top 500 enterprises in the world, it once ranked 22nd. The company owns part or all of the shares of many copper mines and smelters around the world, including Chile and the Philippines, through holding or equity participation. Sumitomo Corporation has been involved in LME metal trade for a long time. At the beginning of 1987, when the copper price of London Metal Exchange futures hovered at 1300, Sumitomo Corporation's trader Binzhongnan gradually established a large number of copper forward contracts in the futures market. By the middle of 1988, the price of copper in London had soared to $2,500. Binzhong Tainan has made great profits from the futures market. In the nearly ten years from the mid-1980s to the 1996 Sumitomo copper incident, Binzhongnan was "all-powerful" in the London copper futures market, and succeeded repeatedly. Because it often controls more than 5% of the trading volume and open contracts in the London copper market, it has won the title of "Mr.five". It should be said that Sumitomo itself is a very active predator of LME.
In the early 1990s, some enterprises in China and South America were defeated by the tacit attack of "western powers". After a group of weak people were eliminated, it was difficult for these strong people to find opponents for a while. As a result, the beacon smoke ignited among big countries. As Sumitomo Corporation was the market leader in London and new york at that time, it was finally locked in by big funds in Europe and America.
According to industry estimates at that time, during the period of 1.994- 1.996, the copper futures positions controlled by Tainan, Zhong Bin were between1.000-2 million tons. At the same time, the copper price of March futures in London has soared from1650 USD/ton at the end of 1993 to13075 USD/ton at the beginning of 1995. From 1994 to the beginning of 1996, Binzhongnan controlled LME's copper warehouse receipts for a long time by artificially controlling the spot. The LME copper warehouse receipts he controlled accounted for as much as 90% of the exchange at the peak, which made the London copper futures market in a long-term spot premium state, and the forward price was much lower than the recent one, in order to curb the long-term selling of the market and artificially raise the price.
However, competitors are also difficult to deal with. It is said that there are Quantum Fund, Robinson Tiger Fund, Canadian metal trader Herbert Black, American fund Dean Witter and some large European metal traders. They sold a lot of short positions against Sumitomo's bulls, from more than 3,000 US dollars/ton, and the London copper price dropped from a high of 3,075 US dollars/ton to about 65,438+2,720 US dollars/ton in1May 1995. However, the tenacious Binzhongnan did not give in easily. In July and August of that year, the copper price was raised to more than 3,000 US dollars.
At the end of 1995, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission of the United States began to investigate the abnormal transactions of Sumitomo Trading Company in the US Treasury bonds and copper futures markets. Under the notification and pressure of the United States, the London Metal Exchange also began to investigate. Under the pressure of investigation, the copper price in London fell to around $2,420. However, Tadao Hamada did not give up fighting. After tenacious resistance, the copper price rose to more than $2,720 in May of 1996. After many contests, Soros and other funds also felt exhausted and almost wanted to give up. Then, just when the fund wanted to give up the fight, in May, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the London Metal Exchange announced that they would take restrictive measures against Sumitomo Corporation, and rumors that Tadao Hamada would be forced to resign were also circulating everywhere. The fund finally caught the last straw. Under the new round of powerful offensive, the copper price in London soared from a high of $2,720/ton in May to about 1.700/ton in June, with a drop of more than 1.000 in just over a month. Sumitomo Trading Co., Ltd. ended in complete failure, and it is estimated that Sumitomo's loss is as high as $4 billion.