Why trade through a broker

Because one buyer gives you one price, while several qualified bidders give you the market's price -- and the same analysis is worth different amounts to different plants. A broker runs that competition, matches your specification to the buyer who pays for it, and keeps the certification and delivery paperwork from sinking the deal. The honest limit: a broker is paid a commission on concluded business only, and there are sellers who do not need one -- the section on this page about when not to use a broker says which.

For a single small parcel, sometimes not -- and we say so when that is the answer. Volumes below what buyers screen on belong in aggregation, and a broker who regularly places your product can aggregate several sellers into one contract-size stream.

That is agreed before any introduction, and either structure exists in this trade. What does not exist at this brokerage: both sides paying without knowing, or a markup hidden in the price.

No. The contract and the payment run between buyer and seller, and our general terms govern the brokerage -- not the trade itself. What we do is verify every counterparty through KYC before it can trade, which removes most of the surprises, not the responsibility that belongs to the principals.

No, and no broker honestly can. What we guarantee is competition: your cargo presented to the qualified buyers whose specifications fit it, with the paperwork in order -- the rest is the market's to decide.

A broker. On feedstocks and fuels we never take title to cargo: the contract and the payment run directly between buyer and seller. (Additives and blending components are the one exception, and we state our capacity before anything is agreed.) The difference matters to your price: a principal buys your cargo and resells it at a spread you never see, while a broker's fee is agreed openly and the price improvement is yours.

Commission on concluded business only, quoted per tonne, with a rate that differs per product and per trade -- there is no one blanket number, and any desk quoting one is guessing. The two tests of fairness: the rate is settled before anyone meets anyone, and you can compare it against the spread between the best and the worst bid on your own cargo.

Yes -- it is the normal first step. A first parcel runs small, the full documentation set is tested end to end, and no exclusivity is demanded for it. A counterparty unwilling to do a trial shipment is itself information about how the larger cargoes would go.

Because a benchmark describes specification-grade material at a major hub, and your offer is built from your cargo: FFA and moisture, certification status, location, incoterm and volume, minus every handling step between your tank and that hub. A broker makes those deductions explicit per buyer instead of leaving them hidden in one opaque number -- see our parameters page for what each number does to the bid.

The honest answer is that you should not have to find out alone. Every counterparty on our desk is KYC-verified before it can trade: registry, sanctions screening, beneficial owners and past performance. Independent of any broker, the red flags are constant: payment terms that move against you after the contract, pressure to ship before terms are confirmed, and no verifiable history in the product. A surveyor at loading and a retained sample settle the rest.

In physical commodities the difference is title. A trader buys your cargo, owns it on the way to the next buyer, and earns the spread between the two prices -- a spread you never see. A broker arranges the trade between principals and earns an agreed commission, so the price improvement stays yours. One question tells you which one you are talking to: whose name is on the contract with your buyer? On feedstocks and fuels we are the broker and never the trader -- and where a house does both, the capacity it acts in must be stated before the deal.

Commission on concluded business -- nothing else on this desk. No listing fees, no retainer, no charge for quoting, and no hidden spread, because a broker that never takes title has nothing to mark up. The alignment is the point: the broker is paid exactly when the seller is paid, by the side that was agreed before the introduction.

The two trades share a word and almost nothing else. A futures broker executes derivative contracts on an exchange, for a fee per lot, and no oil ever moves. A physical commodity broker arranges actual cargoes between producers, collectors and industrial buyers -- title, tanks, surveyors, delivery terms and all. This page and this desk are about physical brokerage; if your question is hedging price risk on an exchange, you need the other profession.