As of the end of last week, the combined totals from the London Metal Exchange, Shanghai Futures Exchange and Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange stood at 892, 084 tons, a jump of 51% from 588, 881 at the end of last year, said John Gross, an independent metals-industry consultant.

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Then last month the chief of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, a division of the central bank, removed any ambiguity when he stated that China would make the renminbi convertible on the capital account in five years.

FORBES: The Final Liberalization of the Renminbi

Hewison is a retired floor trader who has been a member of several major exchanges, including the International Monetary Market division of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Index and Options Market Chicago, New York Futures Exchange and London Financial Futures Exchange.

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