Mitsui funds new scrap trading venture

Several nonferrous scrap traders formerly connected with Australia-based OneSteel Recycling have agreed to be part of an alliance organized by a Hong Kong-based scrap recycler and backed financially by Japan-based Mitsui & Co. 

The new Global Metals Network will start conducting business Jan. 1, 2019, with corporate headquarters in Hong Kong and trading offices in the United States, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, South Africa, Chile and Colombia.

The trading network was organized by Keith Chiu, who operates scrap yards in Asia and an existing trading firm as chair of SBE International Ltd., along with his nonexecutive director Jacobus Ngai. According to Global Metals Network President Mark Sellier, Chiu and Ngai recruited the former OneSteel traders to be part of the new company while simultaneously approaching Mitsui to be part of the affiliated venture “as the financial partner.”

Comments Sellier, “Mitsui was already involved in nonferrous and ferrous scrap, so this increases their presence in the scrap market, particularly in copper.” He adds, “It’s an incredibly exciting opportunity to try to grow this partnership with Mitsui. To bring a company with in-depth experience with cathode and concentrates and mining and to help increase their scrap portfolio points to the bright future of recycling and scrap—it endorses the future of that to me.”

The new company’s global trading network includes: Rita Lou, working from a Los Angeles area office in the United States; Joss Francis and Laura Nicholson working from the United Kingdom; Sandra Vrielink in the Netherlands; Lynn Brock based in Durban, South Africa; Claudia Vega in Santiago, Chile; and Karima Ngadi in Bogota, Colombia.

Sellier says former OneSteel Recycling Hong Kong staff members Carrie Woo, Canice She and Kennis Chan, in addition to former representatives of the Sims Metal Management logistics team, are now part of Global Metals Network, which has set up its office in Wan Chai, Hong Kong.

Sellier says the global footprint of the new trading house “will be part of our advantage.” He adds, “We try to basically make the global local for our customers—to do business with people in their country in their language. We have specifically designed our business to have as much global spread as possible, to take advantage of arbitrage opportunities as they arise to best serve our trading partners. An incident such as a trade war can spark a change in trade flows, and we need to be agile to take advantage of new spreads or opportunities as they arise.”