Trading places

I hear today that senior trader Jeroen Baaima has left Interchem to set up a European chemical desk at Vitol in London, which will be handling benzene, toluene, xylenes and pygas. He starts on 1 August and is on leave until then.

One Interchem insider told me today, "I like him very much and I will miss him. He was a man of European culture." Talking of culture - Chris, Paul and I remember fondly a fabulous dinner which he threw at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum on the occasion of the 5th European Aromatics Conference in 2006.

Also trading places is styrene and solvents trader Roy Denneman who has left Vinmar in the Netherlands. We only heard this today, but there's no news yet on where he is headed.