Company History/Summary of E & C Trading
Ltd., Rotkreuz, Zug/Switzerland E & C Trading Ltd., an international raw materials
marketing company specialized in iron ore trading, was
established in the year 1984 as Swiss limited company in
Zug/Switzerland, by a group of six senior traders under
the leadership of the late Dr. h.c. Michael Floersheim,
formerly general manager of the Zug headquarters of
Philipp Brothers, then the most diversified and largest
international commodities trading company worldwide. Initially, the company handled a variety of commodities:
Iron/manganese/chrome ores, ferro alloys, moly, vanadium,
coal and coke, pig iron, HBI and other raw materials.
Subsequently, as of 1987, the management decided to
concentrate exclusively on the field of the longstanding
expertise of its senior executives, namely on iron ores
and related raw materials for the steel industry and E
& C Trading further enhanced its rôle as major market
factor in the international iron ore business. In the decade elapsed since its establishment, the
company has continually sold a variety of iron ores from
almost all proveniences to the tune of 4-6 million tons
p.a. in shiploads ranging from the handy size vessel of
30'000 MT to vloos of 250'000 MT. The iron ores coming
from Australia, South Africa, South Americas, India, the
CIS states and many more proveniencies. Sales were made to
the majority of the European steel producers. However, the scope of the company's activities is not
limited to traditional trading alone. Project finance,
long term contracts, barter deals, mine development,
relocation of equipment and installations, conversion
agreements, hedge instruments etc., form part of the
overall engagement. The company works in close association with an
experienced bulk cargo ship broker hereby closing
charters, long term contracts of affreightment, swapping,
selling freight space, reletting vessels chartered etc.
The freighting/vessel chartering side of its activities
forms an integral and profit sensitive part of its
business. The company has also developed sales into industries with
non-metallurgical applications of iron ores, such as pipe
coating, ballasting, offshore projects, hydropower dams
and other heavy aggregate applications. Cooperation Agreements and worldwide relations with
agents and stevedoring companies, R&D departments of
steel mills and other industrial entities, are very strong
and many business possibilities are hereby developed. A very important aspect of its business philosophy is the
servicing function of the trader. The steel mills know
that even for small tonnages of "exotic" ores, they can
turn to the company who will do its best to come up on
very short notice, with the required quality. Hereby, the
company is also serving the special requirements of the
industry. Although the company does not have subsidiaries or
foreign offices, it avails, nevertheless, over a worldwide
network of commercial agents with whom it cooperates under
longterm agency agreements or on a case by case basis. The company has been for a decade since its inception,
the European sales organisation for 3-4 million tons p.a.
of the Australian iron ore mine, Robe River Ltd. This
arrangement has been amicably terminated per end 1994 with
the opening by Robe River of their own European Sales
Office. Meanwhile Robe River has been taken over by the
Rio Tinto Group and the sales have been merged into Rio
Tinto's operations. Since then the company had on the iron ore side an
exclusive marketing agreement with Shougang Hierro Peru to
market their products in Europe, Middle East and India
until that mine was fully taken over by the Shougang steel
mill in China. We remain engaged as one of the
shareholders in the development of COMISA mine in Minas Gerais,
Brazil. Furthermore the company has returned in Ferro-Alloys
trading. New product lines like Tantalite, Columbite and
Cassiterite were also successfully introduced. From there
trading in minor metals started and later on the company
became a member of the minor metal trading association
(MMTA). The shares of the company are held by a rather small
group of investors, some of them actively acting as
directors and/or traders. The shipment administration,
management information and communication system etc. are
supported by an advanced computer network. The accounting
is done by outside professionals; same is the case for
legal services, tax advice etc. President
E&C Trading Ltd., Allrüti 18c, CH-6343 Rotkreuz /
Switzerland Tel. +41 41 790 60 90 Home Previous page |
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