Trafigura

Financial performance

2023: Annual dividend triples to record $5.9 billion for 1,200 shareholders

In December 2023, commodity trading giant Trafigura Group paid its shareholders $5.9 billion in annual dividends, three times more than a year earlier, after making another record profit in the 12 months ended in September.

The growing dividend - Trafigura's biggest ever - is the latest evidence that mostly private trading houses continue to reap huge benefits from the volatility of the market caused by the conflict and Russia. Ukraine

At Trafigura, the payout will be distributed to about 1,200 top traders and executives who own the company, meaning they will each receive an average of about $5 million.

2022: Record profit for the 1st half of the year amid the conflict in Ukraine

Trafigura Group posted record profits for the first half of 2022, even after the outbreak of conflict in Ukraine forced the commodity giant to cut its operations due to rising trade risks.

Wild price fluctuations helped generate a net profit of $2.7 billion for the six months to March, Trafigura said in a report.

2021: Record profits amid COVID-19 pandemic

Trafigura Group received a record annual profit in its history, as a commodity trader took advantage of sharp fluctuations in raw materials prices caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The second-largest oil and metals trading company had net income of dollars US 3.1 billion for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2021, up 94% from a year earlier.

Dividends and share buybacks were up 87% from the previous year.

History

2023

Filling gas storage facilities in Ukraine in anticipation of rising gas prices in the EU

The Trafigura group stores some of the natural gas in Ukraine's underground storage facilities to re-export it back to Europe when prices rise.

"Trafigura was one of the few companies to inject gas into Ukrainian storage facilities," the trading house said in a financial report released Dec. 8, 2023. While Ukraine said European traders used its vast gas storage facilities this year, it avoided naming the companies, citing security concerns.

Loss of $577 million due to nickel supply fraud and lawsuit against Pratek Gupta

Commodity trader Trafigura faced losses of $577 million after disclosing nickel fraud, it was revealed that the cargo of metals purchased by the company in India did not contain nickel, which was supposed to be contained in them.

In 2022, the trading scheme began to look like this: Trafigura bought nickel already submerged on ships, and then sold it when the ships arrived at their destination. In December 2022, shortly before Catholic Christmas, Trafigura employees decided to check the contents of containers that arrived at the Dutch port of Rotterdam. When they opened the container, it turned out that there was no nickel in them. According to Reuters, they found ingots of ordinary steel in containers.

Trafigura has spent the past two months uncovering what it believes is a systematic scam against her. She launched a lawsuit against Indian businessman Pratek Gupta and several related companies, including TMT Metals and subsidiaries of UD Trading Group. The alleged fraud case, due to which the trader lost $577 million, could be one of the largest cases of its kind ever heard in London courts.

For Trafigura, one of the largest energy and metal traders, this loss will raise questions about the transaction verification and counterparty verification processes.

Later in February 2023, it became known that Trafigura itself made several mistakes. Singapore-based Trafigura claims companies linked to Prateek Gupta sold it more than 1,100 containers that were supposed to contain high-quality nickel. However, as follows from the testimony, Trafigura itself did not require certificates of analysis, ignored the indication in the customs declarations of the incorrect product code and did not notice other signals.

The basis of the scheme was reverse deals: Trafigura bought batches of nickel, and sold back upon arrival of cargo at its destination. The deals were also organised by Gupta-related companies. For the most part, the contents of the containers were not inspected.

Trafigura by February 25 had inspected about 156 of the 1,104 containers linked to the alleged fraud. The company claims that so far there has been no nickel in any of them.

KTrafigura Group sold the "defunct nickel" to buyers including a US trade finance company and a state-owned Indonesian mining company.

The buyers of these cargoes were:

• two trading divisions of the Chinese state conglomerate Xiamen C&D;
• Mind ID Trading Pte, the trading arm of Indonesia's state-owned miner;
• Argentem Trade Services LLC, a trade finance company affiliated with the hedge fund Argentem Creek Partners; and
• Axiom Ltd., a trading company of. Hong Kong

Sale of stake in India's Nayara Energy to Italy's Mareterra Group

Singapore trader Trafigura said in January 2023 that it sold 24.5% of its ownership in India's Nayara Energy, a joint venture with Rosneft. This share was bought by Hara Capital Sarl, a subsidiary of the Italian Mareterra Group Holding.

2019: Blockchain deal with Sberbank

In early September 2019, Sberbank conducted a deal with Trafigura to supply oil using blockchain. Read more here.