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The world’s metal traders are enduring one of their toughest periods in years, even as an international race for minerals thrusts the industry into the geopolitical spotlight like never before.
“It’s dawning on people they’ve talked themselves into a supercycle that isn’t happening,” said Concord Resources Chief Executive Officer Mark Hansen, whose company reported its first-ever loss last year. “The environment is the most complicated and tricky for metals trading that I’ve ever seen.” The challenges aren’t just a function of a lackluster economy. While demand has disappointed expectations, including in top consumer China, it hasn’t yet fallen off a cliff. The result is a lukewarm market that is neither strong nor weak enough to create lucrative trading opportunities. And rising interest rates are dramatically lifting costs and hurting traders who signed long-term deals before the hiking cycle began.
IXM, the third-largest metals trader, reported net profit of about $19 million last year, the weakest in more than a decade, although it has recovered somewhat — reporting profits of just over $40 million in the first half of this year.reported last month that several senior traders were leaving historic trading house Gerald Group, while earlier this year the company discovered it had been the victim of a suspected fraud in tin, people familiar with the matter said.
Concord, a mid-sized merchant specializing in aluminum which also owns an alumina plant in Louisiana, reported its first-ever loss in its 2022 results filed at Companies House in what it described as a “very challenging year,” while Ocean Partners, another concentrates trader, said net profits dropped 65%.
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