KGHM Polska Miedź S.A., the largest European copper producer and the world’s third largest silver producer, has selected Brady plc’s (BRY.L) Raw Materials trading and risk management solution to manage its raw materials purchasing activities. Additionally KGHM is also taking Brady’s Hedge Accounting solution to manage IAS39 compliance.
KGHM is a long-established copper producer with mining and smelting assets across Poland. It is the 10th-largest producer of copper and the 3rd-largest producer of silver in the world. KGHM-produced electrolytic copper is registered by the London Metal Exchange (LME) as “Grade A", while its silver is registered under the KGHM HG brand, and holds a “Good Delivery" certificate, issued by the London Bullion Market Association (in 1995) and by the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (in 2006). Other products of KGHM include gold, lead, sulphuric acid and rock salt.
KGHM has used Brady’s risk management software for a number of years to manage the market risk of its refined metals sales. The new implementation will extend its use of Brady solutions to cover the purchase of raw materials and management of the raw materials contract lifecycle. Risk management will also be enhanced so that the market risk associated with the metals content of the raw materials can be easily captured and managed.
“Brady’s ability to integrate raw materials contract management with our existing risk management system so that all physical contracts (raw materials and refined metals) are in the same place, enabling us for the first time to have a global net metal position, hedged and un-hedged, made Brady the only choice for us,” said Piotr Pawlowski, CIO of KGHM. “The new solution is also able to integrate with our SAP accounting system, which should result in easier access to a true picture of the cost of sales of refined metals, taking into account all of the associated costs from the raw materials purchase.”
Gavin Lavelle, CEO of Brady said: “Having another major copper producer adopt our end-to-end solution further demonstrates the strength of the Brady offering to the metals producing and mining sector. We believe that KGHM will see significant operational improvements and will greatly improve their risk management function as a result of implementing our latest applications and we are delighted to extend our long term relationship.”