Duisburg, August 7, 2020. PCC Trade & Services GmbH, the largest trading company in our Group, this weekend will load around 30,000 tons of Russian coke breeze and anthracite in the Finnish port of Koverhar for delivery to a Canadian customer. Still in August, after a break of several weeks, our subsidiary will again be shipping crude benzene from Russia for a customer in Germany. After three weak months, the sales development at PCC Trade & Services GmbH will thus pick up speed again this month. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the price of crude oil collapsed dramatically in April, which resulted in a sharp drop in the price of many other chemical raw materials. And the downturn of the steel industry as well as the temporary lockdown of entire industry branches caused by Covid-19 further added to this. Now, PCC Trade & Services GmbH registers an increasing demand again for many raw materials, and raw material prices are also showing a rising trend, with correspondingly positive effects on sales and earnings development of this Group company.
