A seller is entitled to know whether the buyers are real before handing over anything. We will not publish counterparty names, and you should be suspicious of anybody who does. What we will set out is the type of buyer, where they sit and the volumes this desk places, so you can judge whether your material fits.
A broker who publishes their buyer list does not have one for long. The entire value of an intermediary position rests on the relationship, and a seller who is given names before anything is agreed has every incentive to go around the broker, which is exactly why brokers who do it stop having buyers.
The workable arrangement, and the market standard, is a non circumvention agreement. It binds the specific deal rather than restraining you generally. You stay free to work your own relationships and to place material elsewhere if we cannot supply a buyer. What you cannot do is take the buyer we introduced and deal around us on that chain.
Once that is signed, you are told exactly who your material is going to, and you deal with a named counterparty rather than a rumour.
Ferrochrome smelters and stainless steel supply chains, principally in China, India and Turkey, along with inland South African smelters buying on a delivered basis. They buy on grade and chrome to iron ratio, and they buy repeatedly rather than in one off parcels.
Power utilities, industrial offtakers and cargo traders, principally across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Vietnam, alongside regional African industrial buyers. Mid grade RB2 and RB3 have as real a market as premium RB1 because much of the installed generation fleet was designed around lower calorific value coal.
The specific counterparty is named to a seller under a non circumvention agreement, once we know the material fits and the basis on which we are working has been put in writing. Buyer identities are not published on a website, by us or by anybody credible.
Ask us for the destination, the buyer type and the volume band for your commodity before you send anything, and judge whether the answer sounds like somebody who has actually shipped it. A broker who cannot describe their buyer's furnace configuration or import programme in specific terms does not have one.
Send the commodity, the rough grade, the tonnage and where it sits. You will know inside a trading day.