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Trade Advantage

Spring 2024

Trade Advantage

Welcome to our inaugural Trade Advantage newsletter bringing you the latest commodities news, trends and regulatory developments on a quarterly basis.

This quarter’s news features bias in arbitration, an update on EU Deforestation Regulation, insight on Sanctions clauses, and more.

The Court has removed a sole arbitrator because there was an appearance of bias, based on remarks he made about the expert witnesses which suggested that he did not have an open mind on one of the central issues in dispute. Read more.

The Court has emphasised the high threshold for successfully relying on the fraud exception to the autonomy principle and the importance to international trade of honouring letters of credit. Read more.

The issue in this case was whether the date of buyers’ default under the sale contract, for the purposes of the default clause in GAFTA 100, was the date of breach or date of acceptance. Read more.

The EU Regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR) came into force on 29 June 2023. The EUDR has an 18-month implementation period for operators and traders that come within its scope but those affected should consider preparing now to ensure that they are compliant when the time comes. Read more.

The Singapore Court of Appeal has held that a bank was not entitled to rely on the sanctions clause in letters of credit to deny payment to the beneficiary upon presentation of compliant documents. Read more.

The Court has clarified when and to what extent it will interfere with an expert or referee appointment or determination. Read more.

Commodities

We offer specialist legal advice combined with a real understanding of clients’ commercial needs. If you are a trader, charterer, operator, end-user, insurer, financing bank, borrower or trade association, our commodities team should be your first port of call. 

How we can advise you

We are market leaders in what we do, acting in contentious and non-contentious matters arising from the international sale, purchase, financing (including hedging), storage and transportation of commodities.   
We advise on matters relating to soft and hard commodities and all aspects of energy. Our experience extends to the broadest spectrum of goods traded across the world including: soft and agricultural products (corn, wheat, soybeans, sunflowerseeds, fertilisers, sugar, cotton, coffee, cocoa, vegetable oils); base metals (including concentrates), ores and steel (including finished products and recycled metals); and energy products (including crude oil, refined products, ethanol, biofuels, coal, power, gas, LNG and LPG).
 
We have a well-recognised structured trade finance practice that assists both lenders and borrowers with the whole range of transactions, including: bilateral and syndicated facilities; pre-finance; repos; borrowing base finance; supply chain; receivables finance; payables financing; forfaiting and factoring. Our expertise covers all the main trade finance instruments: security documentation; documentary credits (including structured letters of credit); standby credits and guarantees (UCP, ISBP, URDG); bills of exchange and promissory notes.

We have a comprehensive knowledge of trade associations’ standard forms, rules and practices and extensive experience of disputes before all English courts, international arbitration, mediation and other ADR options. We handle disputes before trade associations such as ICA, SAL, RSA, GAFTA, FOSFA, LME and FCC, as well as international arbitration fora such as the ICC, LCIA, SIAC, HKIAC and UNCITRAL. We also manage arbitrations before the LMAA and on ad hoc terms. This enables us to offer clients an unparalleled cross-border service. We are rightly recognised as a top tier commodities practice in the City of London by the legal directories and by our peers. 
 
Our commodities team is based across our City of London, Piraeus, Hong Kong and Singapore offices.