Global commodity trader Trafigura reported record results on Wednesday, including annual revenues of more than $231bn, as it benefited from soaring oil and gas prices.
Group revenues at the Geneva-based firm jumped 57% to $231.3bn in the year to 30 September, while net profits nearly doubled, rising to $3.1bn from $1.6bn. Both were the highest in the group’s history, as were volumes.
Group equity rose 36% to $10.6bn, the first time it has breached $10bn, while dividends paid to executives and staff totalled a record $1.1bn, compared to $586m a year earlier. Trafigura currently has around 1,000 employee shareholders.
Oil and gas prices have surged this year, as economies reopened following the worst of the pandemic but supply remained constrained. Commodity traders have further benefited as demand for raw materials soared but supply chains struggled.
Trafigura said it had traded an average of 7m barrels of oil and petroleum products per day over the last year, up 25% year-on-year. Non-ferrous metals traded volumes rose 9% to 22.8m metric tonnes, while bulk minerals were ahead 8% at 82.7m tonnes.
Jeremy Weir, chief executive, said: “Trafigura’s performance in 2021 again set new records in terms of volumes handled and overall profitability.
“It was a year that saw the global economy recovering from the shock of Covid-19, albeit unevenly in different regions, and one in which underlying fragilities in global supply chains were laid bare, as demand rebounded while logistics and supply struggled to keep pace.”
Looking ahead, he added: “We expect 2022 to be at least as challenging as 2021, and I believe our company is well positioned to deliver vital commodities…to an even larger customer base in the months ahead.”
Founded in 1993, Trafigura is one of the world’s largest commodity traders, employing more than 13,000 people in 48 countries.
