BEIJING (Reuters) - Gelin Dahua, the Chinese futures brokerage that made a name for itself by building up a massive long copper position on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE), is now short on the metal for at least the next six months, exchange data showed on Monday.
The firm, owned by Shanxi Securities Co, has been liquidating its forward copper positions in recent weeks and on Monday cut its remaining 2,952 lots on the May 2019 ShFE copper contract, according to position data published by the bourse.
The liquidation has coincided with a 9.8 percent drop in Shanghai copper prices since June 11.
Monday's move means that after holding more than 35 percent of the open interest in ShFE's first-half 2018 copper contracts in October last year, Gelin Dahua is no longer in the top 20 long-position holders, among futures brokerages, for any month listed on the ShFE website.
By contrast, it holds a short position of 6,839 lots across four copper contracts from August to November 2018. Data for the February, March and April 2019 contracts was not visible.
In other metals, the brokerage is long on ShFE aluminium for October and November -- when many industry sources expect a repeat of seasonal restrictions on smelting in China -- and remains the top long-position holder on the exchange's January nickel contract with 4,052 lots, down from 5,251 lots on Friday.
(Reporting by Tom Daly; Editing by David Goodman)
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