Precious metals trading has a long history at Heraeus. As early as the 19th century, the company had contracts for platinum group metals with Russian suppliers, which might be considered a forerunner of today’s trading activities. Modern precious metals trading at Heraeus dates back to 1971, when for the first time, the Heraeus Holding Company conducted trading activities under a single legal entity. Nine years later trading was reorganized, and the name Heraeus Metallhandelsgesellschaft mbH (HMG) was introduced; it is still used today.
Today some 40 Heraeus precious metals trading employees in three locations in Hanau, New York and Hong Kong support our product divisions and assist customers with all queries concerning precious metals. These include physical preparation, hedging price risks and financing precious metal inventories.
This global presence enables Heraeus to offer outstanding internal and external trading service around the clock. One of the essential strengths of our company—even compared with international competitors—is the unique combination of decades’ long experience in precious metals trading with the product and finance market knowledge of our employees.
Hanau near Frankfurt is the heart of trading
Hanau in Hesse is traditionally the most important location in Germany for the industrial processing of precious metals. Heraeus has been active in this location for over 150 years. Located at the center of the Heraeus Group’s campus, the trading room of Heraeus Metallhandelsgesellschaft mbH is the heart of global precious metal trading activities at the Heraeus Company.
Since 1990 represented in New York as well
The North American market presents another key pillar of the Heraeus corporate strategy. In order to satisfy the precious metals needs of subsidiaries there, Heraeus has been represented by its own trading company in the USA since 1990, known as Heraeus Precious Metals Management LLC (HPM). The office is located in Manhattan in New York, and is responsible for trading activities and precious metal logistics in the North American, Central American and South American markets.
Hong Kong as a springboard to the Chinese market
Since the mid-1980s, Heraeus has been represented by a trading unit in Hong Kong. As wholly owned subsidiary of W. C. Heraeus GmbH under the umbrella of Heraeus Ltd., the traders work in close cooperation with the trading teams in Hanau and New York to ensure that the precious metal needs of the Heraeus locations operating in the Far East can be fulfilled at any time.
