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Two head traders at Trafigura’s iron ore team in China recently left the commodity group, seven sources with knowledge of the matter said.
It was not immediately clear whether the people leaving would be replaced, but the departures came after global prices of the key steel-making ingredient tumbled almost 40% due to faltering demand in top consumer China.
The two departures were Julian Ho, head of iron ore trading for Trafigura in China and Yang Naizhang, a senior trader who was also previously co-head of Trafigura’s iron ore team in China, three of the sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Trafigura declined to comment.
Yang declined to comment. Ho did not respond to a request for comment on LinkedIn.
Sources said the two were involved in handling the physical iron ore book for Trafigura in China, the world’s biggest buyer of seaborne iron ore. China buys about 75% of the global iron ore output.
Benchmark iron ore hit a 22-month low on Friday at $91.50 a metric ton, its lowest since November 2022.
Stockpiles also grew to a two-year high of 150.5 million metric tons in China to signal a weaker demand.
Chinese steelmakers scaled down production in July and August, due to property market troubles and a dearth of new infrastructure projects.
Trafigura’s bulk mineral trade volumes rose 25% year-on-year to 54.7 million tons for the six months ended March 31, according to its half-year report.
The growth was driven by an increase in iron ore trading volumes, due to more trades from Australia and India, as well as higher throughput at the Porto Sudeste port in Brazil, it said in June.
Trafigura is looking to sell the Porto Sudeste port, which it co-own with Mubadala Capital, Reuters reported in late July.
(Reporting by Amy Lv in Beijng and Julian Luk in London; Editing by Veronica Brown and David Evans)
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