中国金属贸易商在一名交易对手离境并留下未完成合约后，累计亏损至少人民币10亿元（约1,000,000,000元；约1.44亿美元），此事使监管层对隐性金融风险升温而感到警惕。知情人士称，危机核心是由金属商人 Xu Maohua（绰号「The Hat」）所促成的一个交易网络，其中最受瞩目的参与者之一为国资背景的 SDIC Commodities Co.。Xu Maohua 欠该公司铜及其他金属的货款，而该公司又欠其供应商款项；后果包括针对 SDIC Commodities 的至少一宗诉讼，索赔金额超过人民币2亿元，以及深圳贸易商 Guangdong Prolto Supply Chain Management Co. 依交易所文件所述提出的人民币2.19亿元诉讼。
SDIC Commodities 是 State Development & Investment Corp. 旗下的交易单位，其母公司年销售额接近人民币2,000亿元；在此规模下，仅以人民币10亿元估算的潜在亏损约相当于其年销售额的0.5%。知情人士称，监管机构尤其反感所谓「循环交易」，即企业在彼此之间反复买卖同一资产以制造收入假象；Xu Maohua 的出走可能打断了一条维持多年的资金与货物流转链。根据知情人士及法院文件，天津法院并已应一间中国政策性银行之申请，查封存放于江苏无锡的精炼铜3,150公吨（3,150 metric tons），以在潜在诉讼中保全 SDIC 的资产。
知情人士称，Xu Maohua 以广东佛山为据点，透过多家公司从冶炼厂或其他交易商买入金属，再转售予国企，并承诺日后回购；他又可将国企客户的发票以折价出售予提供保理服务的机构（含部分银行），在金属实际交付前即快速取得现金。多名往来人士指称，相关安排可能包含并非其所有的金属，且多家参与交易的公司由其本人持有。事件亦落在中国近年对大宗商品灰色操作的整顿脉络之内：SASAC 自2023年起对国企偏离主业与高风险商业行为加强限制，近期并要求其监管范围内的大型商品贸易公司自查并清理用以「做大收入」的非必要活动；若国企收缩交易，可能降低市场流动性并挤压小型参与者。同时，市场背景亦包括先前的重大丑闻（如虚构铝库存造成逾10亿美元损失），以及银价在近数月翻倍、且在历史上仅于少数短暂时段高于每金衡盎司40美元（$40 per troy ounce，约31.1克）后又在不到20小时内出现相当幅度的急跌，知情人士并推测 Xu Maohua 的资金链可能因押注白银下跌失利而瓦解。
Chinese metals traders have racked up losses of at least 1 billion yuan (≈¥1,000,000,000; about $144 million) after a counterparty left China and abandoned unfinished deals, alarming regulators worried about hidden financial risks. People familiar with the matter said the crisis centers on a trading network facilitated by metals dealer Xu Maohua, nicknamed “The Hat,” and that state-backed SDIC Commodities Co. was among the most prominent participants. Xu owed SDIC money for shipments of copper and other metals, while SDIC in turn owed its suppliers; the fallout includes at least one lawsuit seeking more than 200 million yuan and a separate 219 million yuan claim by Shenzhen-based Guangdong Prolto Supply Chain Management Co., disclosed in an exchange filing.
SDIC Commodities is a trading unit of State Development & Investment Corp., whose parent has annual sales of nearly 200 billion yuan; on that scale, even a 1 billion yuan loss would be roughly 0.5% of annual sales. Regulators are especially bothered by “circular trading,” in which firms repeatedly buy and sell the same asset among themselves to create the illusion of revenue, and people said Xu’s disappearance may have broken a chain that had operated for years. Separately, people and court documents said a Tianjin court, acting at the request of a Chinese policy bank, seized 3,150 metric tons of refined copper held in storage in Wuxi, Jiangsu, freezing the metal to preserve SDIC’s assets for possible litigation.
People said Xu, based in Foshan, Guangdong, used multiple companies to buy metals from smelters or other traders and resell cargoes to state-owned enterprises with a commitment to repurchase them later; he could also quickly raise cash by selling SOE invoices at a discount to factoring providers, including some banks, before deliveries occurred. Several counterparties alleged the scheme involved metals he did not actually own and that many participating companies were controlled by him. The episode fits into China’s broader crackdown on risky and opaque commodity practices: SASAC tightened restrictions in 2023 and in recent weeks ordered major trading firms under its purview to review operations and remove nonessential revenue-boosting activity, with people warning that an SOE pullback could reduce liquidity and squeeze smaller players. It also comes amid earlier scandals (including fictitious aluminum stockpiles that caused over $1 billion in losses) and sharp silver-market moves, with silver prices doubling in recent months and, historically, only briefly trading above $40 per troy ounce (≈$40 per 31.1 g) before last year, then plunging by about that amount in less than 20 hours—factors people said may have contributed to Xu’s financial unraveling.