REUTERS: In a contract dispute dating back to 2017, Jiangxi Copper, one of China’s largest copper producers, announced on Friday that a court had ordered a former client of its business to pay it 1.18 billion yuan (US$182.32 million). The case is one of four cited in Jiangxi Copper’s most recent annual report, which shows that the company’s profits were dragged down by bad debt writedowns last year.
According to an exchange filing in 2019, Shanghai Jiangxi Copper Trading Company Ltd (Shanghai JCT) committed to provide copper wire maker Shandong Xinhui Copper Materials with copper at the end of 2016, delivering 30,530 tonnes of the metal the following year.
That year, it filed a lawsuit against Xinhui, alleging underpayment from 2017 onward.
According to Jiangxi Copper’s filing on Friday, a judgment from the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court confirmed Shanghai JCT’s entitlement to slightly under 1 billion yuan in commodities, plus a 179.33 million yuan default payment and 350,000 yuan in legal fees from Xinhui.
Outside of normal business hours, Xinhui and its officials could not be reached for comment.
“At this time, only the first hearing for the litigation has been finished, and the defendants may file an appeal,” Jiangxi Copper stated, stressing that Xinhui was now in bankruptcy procedures.
It’s too early to say whether the judgment will affect the company’s profitability, according to Jiangxi Copper, which has set aside 628.45 million yuan for bad debt.
(US$1 = 6.4721 Chinese yuan renminbi renminbi renminbi renminbi renminbi renminbi ren
(Tom Daly contributed reporting, and Paul Simao edited the piece.)/n
