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Frequently asked questions

General

Metalshub is a global digital supply chain tool. Producers, consumers, and traders from all countries and regions are welcome to register.

The headquarters of Metalshub is located in Düsseldorf, Germany.

The majority of the shares are held by the two founders (Dr. Sebastian Kreft and Dr. Frank Jackel). Moreover, Metalshub is funded by a group of business angels and financial investors. Metalshub is fully impartial and independent, does not receive funding from any producer, consumer or trader of metals. Therefore, there are no conflicts of interests or hidden agendas.

The Metalshub team has extensive experience in the metals and ferroalloys, and tech industries. There are team members who worked previously for major metals producers, traders and logistics companies with expertise in the areas of marketing, trading, logistics, warehousing, and contracting.

Registration & Fees

Metalshub is open to all companies in metals or ferroalloys industry. now. It will take you less than 3 minutes!

Among other benefits, Metalshub provides an efficient and digital way for metals and ferroalloys supply chain. Moreover, you can extend your customer or supplier base with trusted counterparties worldwide.

No, the registration for Metalshub is free.

Metalshub believes in the commercial principle of the fair share of value. Together with our customers we agree on simple, clear and transparent business principles.

Supply Chain Tool

Over 1,350 companies are currently registered and approved on Metalshub.

Transactions can be made in USD, EUR, GBP, CNY, and BRL. More currencies will follow.

Yes, one company can have multiple users. Users register individually and upon confirmation from the company master user, the user will be added to the company account.

You can choose to make your listings public (visible to all approved Metalshub users) or only visible to users which you select. It is up to you!

Metalshub recommends to:

  • set the validity of the listings between 1 -3 working days

  • use the Neutral GTC provided by Metalshub as an option for the negotiations

  • provide timely feedback to all counterparties involved in a negotiation

  • create all your product profiles on 'My Hub' so that you get automatic notifications every time that there is activity related to your products on the marketplace

'Users come for the network and stay for the tool' - Trusted, efficient, intuitive
The metals and ferroalloys markets are extremely dynamic, and negotiating with the same counterparties will not guarantee that they will still be always the ones able to give you the most favorable prices and terms. Metalshub helps companies expand their business opportunities globally without the administrative inefficiency of traditional negotiations.

Partnership with LME

There are no charge for companies using the LME price as a reference in contracts on Metalshub besides the standard transaction fees.

Base metal customers (seller, producers and traders) can already register and sell products to our existing customer base in the iron and steel industry. However, the inter-trading of base metals will start next year in a systematic onboarding process.

The LME does not have an equity stake in Metalsub but the collaboration is commercial in nature.

Services & Products

Metalshub currently handles 20 main product categories. The complete list of metals and ferroalloys can be found on the . More products to come. Are you missing a product? Contact us: info@metals-hub.com.

Registered users can create listings to buy (Request for Offers) or sell (Request for Bids) or respond to existing listings.

In addition, Metalshub offers the following services:

  • Logistics

  • Know Your Customer (KYC) reports

  • Credit insurance powered by Euler Hermes

  • Financing

  • Sampling and assaying

Metalshub offers logistics services after a user has successfully closed a negotiation on the marketplace. It just takes a few clicks. The services cover:

  • Ground transportation

  • Ocean freight

  • Customs clearance

  • Fiscal representation

These services are provided by Metalshub directly through carefully selected partners. Note that all these services are optional.

Data & Security

This is entirely up to you. You can reveal your identity to all Metalshub users when you publish a listing on "Contract Mode", except to companies that you decide to exclude. You can also remain anonymous if you publish a listing on a "Termsheet Mode" meaning that your identity will not be shown to any Metalshub user on the marketplace. Your identity will be available to the counterparty only after all the conditions of the negotiation are agreed. Until that moment, both of you remain anonymous to each other.

Your identity will be disclosed only if the owner of the listing also shows his identity. If the owner of the listing does not reveal his identity, meaning that the listing is anonymous, your identity will be available to the counterparty only after all the conditions of the negotiation are agreed. Until that moment, both of you remain anonymous to each other.

Data privacy and security are very important priorities for Metalshub. 1. At Metalshub we apply a strong SSL encryption to every information transmission between the user device and our server. Our SSL certificates are of the highest encryption quality and Metalshub had to undergo several checks in order to obtain the certificates. 2. Our marketplace is built on a very secure framework. We proactively monitor our application 24/7 and do regular penetration tests to measure and harden the potential vulnerabilities of our application. Data is stored encrypted in our database. 3. At Metalshub we host our application in Germany in a certified data center with very restrictive access control to the servers. Our server infrastructure is redundant so that in case of a fire or another incident the application starts to work from a different server and no data is lost. 4. Upon request, Metalshub can also limit the IP range for company accounts ensuring that only people from the cleared company network can log in for a certain account. Users can also set an additional layer of security to the authentication process by enabling 2 factor authentication (2FA) for the log-in process.

We use a very restrictive role-based access system to control which employees have access to which data and adhere to the principle of data minimisation, i.e. employees only have access to data needed based on their roles. Additionally all our employees have a confidentiality clause in their employment contract. Violations of this clause may result in termination of employment and possible legal action.

German Supply Chain Act

LkSG stands for Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz (Supply Chain Due Diligence Act) - which is exactly what it is, a law that imposes more extensive due diligence obligations on companies for their supply chains.

It aims to promote the enforcement of environmental and human rights standards by placing the responsibility for monitoring them on the individual company.

It will come into force in two stages, starting on 01 January 2023 for companies with more than 4000 employees, and on 01 January 2024 for companies with more than 1000 employees.

All companies, regardless of sector, that have the required number of employees and also have their registered office or main site in Germany.

The LkSG requires the implementation of a compliance system consisting of a monitoring and a remediation component in case breaches are detected.

The decisive factor is not, for example, the industry, but one's own influence on the supplier, which is measured by the share of one's own expenditure in the supplier's total turnover. 

Once a year for all suppliers, and at any time if there are concrete indications of violations. There is (as yet) no concrete blueprint as to which data should be consulted. A combination of industry risks, contract components, and media research make sense. 

This depends on the severity of the violation - and on the question of whether they occur systematically or on a case-by-case basis. In addition, it is decisive whether the affected supplier takes comprehensible remedial measures. Depending on the facts, the necessary consequences range from increased monitoring to changes to the contract to the delisting of the supplier.

Once a year to the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA), exact form requirements are not yet known.

The violation of requirements from the LkSG - what this means in detail will certainly still be the subject of case law - entails severe penalties, fines of up to eight million euros or two percent of the annual turnover, as well as the threat of exclusion from public tenders.

How to

To update your company profile click on the small arrow on the menu on the upper-right side and select the option “Company profile”. You can enter the logo and the website of your company. If you need to change the VAT number, address or name, please contact us info@metals-hub.com.

Depending on the operating system, Google's Android, Apple's iOS, the steps differ. Please check out the step-by-step guideline .

To add delivery or storage locations, please click on the small arrow on the menu on the upper right side and select the option “Company profile”. You can add as many delivery and storage locations as you need. Otherwise, you can contact us at info@metals-hub.com.

After a deal is concluded on Metalshub, both the buyer and seller get the possibility to rate each other:

  • The buyer is able to rate the seller when the products are delivered

  • The seller is able to rate the buyer when the payment is made A rating is always anonymous and consists of a 5-star scale and optional comments. Both sellers and buyers are rated based on aspects such as reliability, logistics, and quality of the product. More information .

Still have questions?

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