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Marex, a European commodities broker, expands its petrochemical trading team

Marex, a European financial and commodities group, is expanding its global trading team for petrochemicals. It is betting on a rebound in an industry that has been hit by low margins. This was announced on Thursday by its new head of petrochemicals trading.

Vasudev Balagopal joined Marex as a new employee in August. The company's goal is to increase its petrochemical trade portfolio up to 3,000,000 metric tons.

Balagopal was previously the head of aromatics trading at Japan's Mitsubishi Corp.

He said that a trader would join Marex's team of petrochemical traders in Tokyo in the month of December. The company will also add staff to Dubai, Japan, and Singapore before the end.

Marex has offices in New York, Rotterdam and other cities.

The company has expanded its petrochemicals portfolio to include products like aromatics, polyvinylchloride, chloralkali, and shipping liquids such as methanol.

Overcapacity in China, the Middle East and other countries has caused a global downturn that is longer than expected. Tariffs, trade protectionism and other factors have exacerbated industry problems.

"I expect the turbulence of trade caused by tariffs to lessen slightly, maybe within a year. Also, European demand must be revived for this industry to recover," Balagopal stated.

After years of losses, Europe's petrochemical sector is in ruins.

(source: Reuters)