Overview

Our Company
Our mission is to be the foremost trade execution specialists in southern Africa. Through market research, insightful and innovative structuring, we aim to build strategic relationships with international buyers, suppliers and financial institutions as a means of securing specific markets for a variety of products.

Our Vision
We aim to be the trading and advisory service supplier of choice for all participants in the value chain, from origin to end user, throughout Africa and with her trading partners.

Corporate Values
Circle believes in the ability of African entrepreneurs to develop African companies. It is our belief that there is immense value in African people and African companies. This value can be unlocked through the creation of optimal conditions for capable entrepreneurs and managers to compete globally.

Key Success Factors
Given the South African economic environment, we believe that as an innovative and responsible black African owned commodity trading and finance company we have huge potential for growth. Our company's strength is in the calibre of our people, along with the business support services provided to us by our private equity division. The sum of which is reflected in the quality of institutional partnerships we have established, maintained and continue to expand.

the business

Circle’s Commodities Trading division is designed to give buyers and sellers of goods and services in the market place a single and convenient place to connect, facilitate transactions and better manage supply chains. Based in Cape Town, South Africa our interests span the length and breadth of the country, the SADC region, EU and South America, all within the context of our aim to become the foremost trade execution specialists in Southern Africa and on the continent as a whole. We boast a dedicated trade development unit in our Johannesburg offices as well a series of agency agreements, with strategically positioned multi-nationals, thus further extending the global reach of our operations.

strategy

Client Base and Relationships
Our success is related to the quality of our business relationships; it is because of this that our resources are focused on nurturing and growing our working relations with the key stakeholders in order to ensure synergy between our client base and the goals of our enterprise.

Learning and Growth
As business processes change we continue to explore competitive innovations to improve the efficiency of our operations. Circle Commodities Trading believes strategic relationships and consistent advances in human resource development leverages an unprecedented amount of African talent and potential.

Strategic Alliances
Having assembled a team with the right connections across the continent, extensive experience of trading and financial engineering, we are confident that our global reach will continue to grow with further alliances across key markets and sectors. This growth will reflect not only the natural evolution in our capabilities but also the increasing profile that is being afforded Africa as a continent.

The Market

Commodities, particularly agricultural goods, dominate Africa's exports, whereas the region imports largely manufactured goods. Developed countries have traditionally been the main markets for Africa's exports, but recent restrictive policies have limited access to their markets. This has resulted in a significant loss of market share for the continent's commodity exports. This coupled with poor regional integration has contributed significantly to the continents under performance in global trade. It is interesting to note that intra-African trade remains low at only 10% of the continents total foreign trade in 2004. UNCTAD reported that Africa's poor international and regional trade performance reflects its "Inability to tap into cheaper finance, efficient logistics, capital resources and skills", all of which are significant tools to international trade success. It has thus become necessary that trade execution vehicles such as Circle Commodities Trading position themselves suitably to share in the lucrative yields of efficient and productive international trade.