We tell you no
Most producers waste months on brokers who will not admit they have no buyer. If your grade, your volume or your location does not fit our book, you will hear that in a day and you can go and spend your time somewhere it will count.
For producers and holders of material
You have the material.
We have the buyers.
If you are sitting on chrome concentrate, copper, coal, manganese, iron ore or grain and you do not have a reliable route to a buyer, this is what we do. Tell us roughly what you hold and where it sits. Inside one trading day you will know whether we have somebody for it.
Most Southern African material never reaches a real buyer. It circulates through open broker groups instead, picking up an intermediary at every forward, until it arrives at a smelter or a mill with four commissions stacked on it and no credible chain of title behind it. The buyer ignores it. The producer never finds out why.
We work the other way. Material goes to one named buyer at a time, chosen because their furnace, mill or import programme actually fits the product, under non circumvention protection for both sides. Off market does not mean secretive. It means a real conversation between one seller and one buyer, instead of a broadcast.
Why sell through this desk
Four things that are not standard in this market.
We do not broadcast your material
An offer that circulates through open broker groups is worth less every time it is forwarded. By the time it reaches a genuine buyer it has four intermediaries stacked on it and no credibility left. We take material to named buyers, one at a time.
We know what your product actually is
You will not have to explain the difference between fines and lumpy, or why your chrome to iron ratio matters, or that RB3 is a specification rather than a defect. That saves both of us a week.
We work the leg nobody wants
Mine gate to port is where most Southern African deals die. Rail allocation, terminal entitlement, port services and handling are the difference between tonnes and a cargo, and we deal with them rather than assuming somebody else will.
How it works
From first enquiry to being paid.
Six stages. You are told where you stand at each one.
01
You tell us what you hold
A short enquiry is enough to start. The commodity, roughly what grade, roughly how much, and where it sits. You do not need a full documentation pack to make first contact, and you should not send one to anybody who asks for it before they have told you what they can do with your material.
02
We tell you whether we have a buyer
This is the part most brokers avoid. Within a trading day we come back and say either that we have a buyer for that grade at that volume, or that we do not. A fast no costs you nothing. A slow maybe costs you a season.
03
We agree how we work together
Before anything is circulated, the basis on which we act is put in writing, along with non circumvention protection for both sides. You will know exactly what our role is and what it costs before your material is shown to anybody.
04
Your material goes to a named buyer
Not to a broadcast list. We take it to the specific buyer whose furnace, mill or import programme fits your product, and we tell you who that is under the non circumvention agreement. Off market means one seller and one buyer having a real conversation, not an offer circulating through forty intermediaries until nobody knows where it started.
05
We structure and paper the trade
Specification, assay basis, premium and penalty schedule, Incoterm, inspection body, payment security and the delivery programme. Where there is a chain, each leg is papered back to back so every party stands on its own contract.
06
You get paid
Payment security is agreed before signature, not after. On running supply we structure it so you can draw against delivered tonnage rather than funding months of production out of your own working capital.
What to send
What we need to know, by commodity.
You do not need all of this to make first contact. It is what the conversation will cover once we know there is a buyer, so it is worth having to hand.
Metals
Chrome Concentrate
- Grade, expressed as Cr₂O₃ percentage, and the chrome to iron ratio if you have it
- Tonnage available now and what you can hold per week or per month
- The wash plant or stockpile location, and whether you are quoting FOT, DAP or FOB
- Any assay certificate you already hold, and who issued it
Metals
Copper
- Whether the material is cathode, blister or anode, and the assayed copper content
- Tonnage available and where it currently sits, in bond or otherwise
- Documentation supporting title to the material
- Photographs or video of the stock as it stands today
Energies
Thermal Coal
- Grade and calorific value on a net as received basis, with the certificate of analysis
- Tonnage per month and your rail or road programme to the terminal
- Whether you hold Richards Bay entitlement, or are working through Maputo
- Your realistic laycan, not your best case one
Metals
Manganese Ore
- Mn percentage, and whether the product is lumpy, fines or both
- Tonnage available and the mine or stockpile location
- Whether you can deliver to port or need the logistics leg arranged
- Any existing port services or handling agreement
Metals
Iron Ore
- Fe content and the full assay including silica, alumina, phosphorus and sulphur
- Whether the product is fines, lumpy or both, and the split
- Tonnage available and whether it is at mine or already railed to port
- Your delivery basis and any existing rail allocation
Agricultural
Agricultural Commodities
- Product, origin and the full quality specification
- Tonnage and the load port you can work from
- Whether you can trade on GAFTA or FOSFA standard forms
- Your shipment period and any existing inspection arrangement
Scale
What the desk places.
If your volume sits below these bands it is still worth asking. Smaller producers are frequently aggregated into a cargo, particularly in coal and manganese.
| Chrome Concentrate | 500 MT trial parcels through to running offtakes of 10,000 MT per month |
|---|---|
| Copper | 500 MT trial parcels through to monthly programmes in the thousands of tonnes |
| Thermal Coal | 30,000 MT Supramax cargoes through Maputo, 55,000 MT and above Panamax and Capesize through Richards Bay |
| Manganese Ore | 30,000 MT cargoes and upward, with mine gate volumes aggregated into export parcels |
| Iron Ore | Cargo lots on a 62% Fe basis, fines and lumpy quoted separately |
| Agricultural Commodities | Handysize and Supramax parcels, with containerised lots for smaller volumes |
Start here
Tell us what you have.
Rough figures are fine. This is an enquiry, not an application, and nothing you send is circulated anywhere.
Or reach the desk directly
| info@commodities.agency | |
| Telephone | +27 74 357 9663 |
| Message the desk | |
| Office | Building C, Little Fourways Office Park Fourways, Sandton Gauteng, South Africa |
| Hours | Monday to Friday 07:00 to 18:00 SAST |
| Registered | Commodities Agency SA (Pty) Ltd Reg. 2026/111580/07 |
A word of caution
Be careful with anybody who asks for your full documentation pack, your mine details or a signed exclusive mandate before they have told you what they can actually do with your material. That sequence is the wrong way round and it is how producers get their chain of supply taken from them.
Questions
Selling through this desk
How do I sell my chrome, copper or coal through Commodities Agency?
Send a short enquiry with the commodity, the grade, roughly how much you have and where it sits. The desk comes back within a trading day and tells you whether there is a buyer for that material at that volume. If there is, we then have the conversation about how we work together before anything is shown to anybody.
Do I need a full documentation pack before I contact you?
No. A first enquiry needs the commodity, the approximate grade, the tonnage and the location. Assay certificates, title documents and logistics arrangements matter once there is a live buyer, not before. Be wary of anybody who asks for your full pack before telling you what they can do with your material.
Will my material be circulated to a broker list?
No. Material is taken to named buyers who fit the specification, one at a time, under non circumvention protection. An offer that circulates through open broker groups loses value with every forward and arrives at a genuine buyer with no credibility left.
I am a small producer. Is my volume too small?
Not necessarily. Chrome concentrate and copper open at 500 MT trial parcels. Coal and manganese need cargo scale, from 30,000 MT through Maputo for coal and 30,000 MT for manganese, but smaller producers are frequently aggregated into a cargo. Ask rather than assuming.
Do you buy the material yourself or find a buyer for it?
Both, depending on the chain. On some transactions the company contracts as principal and takes title. On others it acts as an introducing and structuring intermediary. Which one applies is settled and put in writing before anything proceeds, never left ambiguous.
What happens after I send an enquiry?
A person on the desk reads it and replies, usually the same trading day and always within one. If we have a buyer we say so and set out what we would need next. If we do not, we say that instead of leaving you waiting.
Who are your buyers?
Ferrochrome smelters and stainless supply chains in China, India and Turkey; refineries and wire rod mills for copper; power utilities and industrial offtakers across South and Southeast Asia for coal; ferroalloy and battery grade processors for manganese; steel mills for iron ore; and millers, crushers and grain importers across North Africa, East Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. Individual counterparties are named to a seller under a non circumvention agreement, not published.