Trading spaces

Henry Bath currently has an international network of around 60 warehouses in 17 cities worldwide, serving its network of commodity trading clients.

"With this global network of warehouses, we can better provide warehousing support to our clients in a comprehensive way as they increasingly participate in trade across overseas platforms," Wang says.

Meanwhile, working with Henry Bath to strengthen warehousing expertise, systems and security measures also helps CMST to develop warehouses in line with global standards, which is a necessary preparation for when China's commodities trading market is opened up to overseas players, Wang says.

CMST plans to invest in new warehouses that will carry the Henry Bath brand. The London Metal Exchange will certify the warehouses, offering a stamp of approval that shows confidence in their quality and security.

"Over time, infrastructure investment into countries along the Belt and Road will drive economic growth and demand for metals," says Graham Hawkins, CEO of Henry Bath.

"Infrastructure connectivity also makes the process of transporting metals in and out of these Belt and Road countries easier. Those are key factors behind our strategy to invest in new warehouses in Belt and Road countries," he says.

This strategy of collaboration is endorsed by industry analysts.

John Xu, a Shanghai-based partner at the law firm Linklaters, says Chinese commodity warehouses that meet international standards can play a crucial role in helping Chinese commodity traders expand their activities overseas.

"As international warehouses will facilitate physical settlement of trading in relevant areas, they can effectively reduce the cost for Chinese participants and therefore encourage them to do more trading and cover more products.

"On the other hand, the Chinese commodities exchanges can also leverage the cooperation with these international warehouses to increase the competitiveness of the products traded at the exchanges and attract more participants," Xu says.

CMST, founded in 1962, became China's largest logistics warehousing company. The company was originally established as a subsidiary of China Chengtong Holdings Group, a State-owned enterprise directly administered by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.

At the time of establishment, China was still a planned economy, and CMST, as a State entity, was tasked with helping to store and distribute commodities required by factories and consumers.

Han Tielin, chairman of CMST, says the company history has helped it to build up significant capacity in warehousing and commodity handling. So when the Shanghai Futures Exchange and the Dalian Commodity Exchange platforms were established in the 1990s, CMST became the dominant warehouse serving these exchanges.

"In the late 1990s, CMST's management and operations strategy underwent significant changes to increase efficiency, riding on the wave of China's development into a market-oriented economy, against the backdrop of the country's reform and opening-up," says Han, who also is chairman of Henry Bath.

To place the company's scale into perspective, it already has warehousing space with total capacity of 10 million square meters in more than 20 provinces and special administrative regions. It has exclusive rights to use 57 railway lines and the capability to transport commodities on road, rail and sea channels.

Looking to the future, Han says CMST and Henry Bath will "continue to work together toward the same objective of growing commodity connectivity between China and the world".