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Tell us about your role at GFI and what the company does?

At GFI we act as an intermediary, facilitating the matching of buyers and sellers of futures contracts and I focus on the steel derivatives markets. 

How did you get started in the steel industry? 

I started out after university working in equity sales but just over 10 years ago I made a career change via an old university friend working at a smaller brokerage firm, who had an opening in a still nascent steel derivatives broking market.

What do you like best about being a steel derivatives broker?

The customers and the personal relationships I have built with them. Getting to know them well over the years and meeting up with them regularly is my favourite bit.

How have you seen the steel futures market evolve in the past 10 years?

Even before I started in this market, the Americans had started trading US HRC futures, then 10 years ago the LME launched its Turkish scrap contract, and since then a number of other contracts covering different grades and regions were launched. Volumes on the more popular contracts bumbled along for a few years and then started to increase significantly over the last 5 years, with the scrap contract seeing dramatic growth in line with increasing interest in recycled steel.

What types of clients do you typically work with? And have they changed since you started in this business? 

In the early days we typically began working with a handful of industry participants such as physical traders, service centres and mills, with some of them coming via their banks, for hedging and risk management purposes. The first change is that the number of those now active in the market has grown significantly. Also, in the last few years we have seen a number of financial players and funds enter the space, drawn in by the increasing liquidity and by the opportunities that these products can provide such as intra-ferrous product arbitrage and various other strategies.

Can you tell us about the trade that you have been most proud of broking? What was exciting and/or challenging about it? 

I would love to bang on about the first trade I did on a mobile at a noisy Eminem concert at Wembley and about another one on early airplane Wi-Fi over Pakistan. But by far the most exciting was 30,000 tonnes of Turkish scrap brokered at a restaurant in San Sebastian (good trades always seem to happen in odd places making them memorable!). This one was back in 2018, between two of our longest standing customers, and in those days it set a record by a mile for the largest volume trade.

How does it feel to have won the LME-sponsored ISTA Steel Derivatives Broker Award?

I was delighted and very honoured indeed, particularly as it is the inaugural award. Having been one of the longest serving brokers in this market I was absolutely determined to win and I am very grateful for the recognition by ISTA. 

How do you see yourself progressing in your career following your award win?

Through the stratosphere! The award has been great at drawing attention, I have blown up on LinkedIn! I hope it will help garner new interest from potential parties thinking of trading these markets and that they decide to do so via GFI.

What big themes do you see for steel markets in 2025?

I think overcapacity will continue; it is hard to see Chinese demand making much of a recovery anytime soon. At the same time, Chinese mills have not significantly reduced production and will continue to flood export markets, so it will be interesting to see if stiffer anti-dumping measures bite, as well as the impact of fresh import tariffs for steel into the US.