The Geneva Trading Hub

In addition to international organisations such as World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), Geneva is also home to many companies that specialise in international trading, shipping, specialised commodity finance banks and services companies related to these activities, offering a superb array of employment opportunities in some of the most prestigious companies in the world. Attracted by a business-orientated government and low tax rates, many companies have also moved to Geneva due to very high standards of living and excellent infrastructure, a highly qualified workforce, and an international environment with a global pro-enterprise outlook. Furthermore, for this specific industry, Geneva is ideally situated to handle the different markets across the various geographical zones, and has the advantage of a strong banking and finance sector to meet the specialised needs of traders and shippers. The existence of such trading and shipping companies in Geneva has in turn stimulated the development of a large network of service companies to also meet their needs, such as insurance companies, law firms, fiduciary, forwarding agents, inspection and verification companies, ship-brokers and consultants.

Take a look at these facts and figures to show you just what Geneva is made of when we talk about trading hubs:

Geneva is the world’s Number One site for the trade of grains and oil seeds, handling alone one-third or approximately 75 million tons of the global free trade in these commodities and three-fourths of trade in Europe (including the CIS countries).

Of the 85 million barrels per day of crude oil consumed daily, we estimate that about 30 million barrels are traded internationally. Geneva ties with London as Europe’s Number One oil trading hub with roughly one-third or about 700 million tons per year of the world’s free oil trade in terms of physical trade. We also believe that about 75% of Russian exports of crude oil and oil products are managed through Geneva.

The Geneva region also shares first place in Europe with London: each hub manages one-third of the global sugar trade, i.e., 15 million tons each.

For the worldwide trade of cotton, excluding US domestic trade, Lake Geneva Region traders represent 22% of volume, i.e., 1.2 million tons out of 5.5 million tons traded globally, and rank first in Europe

Geneva is the world banking centre for commodity and trade finance. A particular strength of the Geneva banks is their specialization in Emerging Markets, such as Russia, ex-CIS, Africa and South America.

In terms of shipping, the second largest global shipping line has its worldwide headquarters in Geneva. One of the world’s major operators of dry-cargo ships is also established here. Recently, one of the largest tanker operators in the world opened an office in Geneva.

We estimate that at least 50 specialised service providers are active in this field in Geneva. Two of the world’s largest security and verification companies are headquartered in Geneva. Four major players on the ethanol market (industrial, edible, bio-fuels) are based in Geneva or surroundings.

Source: Geneva Trading and Shipping Association website, www.gtsa.ch