Head of Port Sales & Onshore Trading, Iron Ore

Main Purpose

Own Trafigura's China port-side and onshore iron ore business ; end-to-end responsibility for physical sales, inventory positioning, and mill coverage across the domestic market, working closely with the seaborne desk and the SPG JV to translate port access into commercial edge.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead all China port-side iron ore sales activity, including onshore redistribution, port stock management, and blending strategy across mainstream and non-mainstream grades
• Manage physical positioning of the onshore book, sales strategy, inventory turn, and P&L attribution
• Own senior mill relationships across the key demand regions: Riverside, Shanxi, Shandong and Tangshan Deepen coverage where relationships are already strong, and close the gap in Shandong and Tangshan
• Work alongside the seaborne desk to coordinate flow between cargoes landing at Chinese ports and onshore distribution, ensuring positioning is aligned across the physical book
• Support the paper trading team with China-side market intelligence, mill output plans, marginal producer economics, and inventory signals
• Maintain and expand relationships with the big 4 miners on the buy side, and with SOE physical traders and major private players on the domestic sell side
• Partner with the existing China team to commercialize storage priority and port-side positioning at Qingdao/Rizhao, ensuring our footprint translates into visible margin on the onshore book
• Expand forward sales and derivative-linked structures with steel mills, using onshore relationships to originate flow the paper desk can hedge and warehouse

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Bachelor’s degree
• At least 15 years of experience in the iron ore business with global/international commodity trading companies
• Fluency in Business Mandarin is required to communicate with suppliers, counterparties etc in China
• Negotiation, good at numbers, decision making, relationship building
• Excellent communication skills (both internal and external) and aptitude for developing intrapersonal relationships
• Proven track record of profitable trading and P&L management
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and make informed decisions under pressure
• Extensive travelling to China is required