Questions buyers, suppliers, and partners ask us

Quantara is an AI-enabled commodity trading firm headquartered in London, UK, with operations in Dubai, UAE. It trades physical commodities across four verticals: grains and oilseeds, fertilizers, metals and minerals, and energy — and also structures rolling stock and rail asset transactions across the 1520 mm gauge network. The company combines direct producer sourcing with AI-driven supply intelligence, pricing analytics, logistics monitoring, and automated execution.

No. Quantara operates as a principal trading firm and direct sourcing partner. It purchases from producers and manufacturers and sells to end-buyers. It does not act as an intermediary or broker.

Grains and oilseeds (wheat, corn, barley, soybeans, sunflower), fertilizers (urea, DAP, MAP, MOP, NPK, sulphur), metals and minerals (copper cathodes, aluminium ingots, zinc, steel billets), and energy (coal, EN590 diesel, Jet A-1, crude oil, LNG). In addition, Quantara structures cross-border rolling stock and rail asset transactions, with a current focus on end-of-life and surplus tank car fleets (LPG and oil products).

Quantara structures and executes cross-border transactions in railway rolling stock across the 1520 mm gauge network — from single-lot sales to full fleet divestments — representing qualified buyers and asset owners in Russia, Central Asia and the wider CIS. We manage the complete deal cycle: counterparty verification (registry, litigation and sanctions screening on both sides), commercial negotiation, secured payment structuring (documentary letters of credit and advance structures via regional banks), transit and interstate registration procedures, and delivery to the destination railway. Current focus is end-of-life and surplus tank car fleets (LPG and oil products), matched with licensed repair, repurposing and recycling capacity at national railway depots in Central Asia. Fleet divestment and acquisition are executed in batches on an agreed schedule, with rail logistics across three networks: transit grounds, payer codes, and interstate re-registration.

Quantara targets 24 hours from qualified inquiry to indicative term sheet, and 30 days from term sheet to first cargo delivery. Actual timelines depend on commodity, origin, destination, and payment instrument.

Documentary letter of credit (LC) at sight, deferred LC, standby letter of credit (SBLC), cash against documents (CAD), and telegraphic transfer (T/T) for pre-qualified counterparties.

FOB (Free on Board), CIF (Cost, Insurance, Freight), and CFR (Cost and Freight). Terms are adapted per deal based on buyer preference and logistics efficiency.

London, United Kingdom (headquarters) and Dubai, United Arab Emirates (operations and MENA coverage).

Quantara is led by Vasile Granaci, who acquired the 30+ year trading business and brings professional experience across institutional finance (Bloomberg) and enterprise technology (ByteDance, Vonage, MessageBird, Oyster).

AI-driven commodity trading uses artificial intelligence to automate and accelerate supply monitoring, price benchmarking, counterparty due diligence, documentation generation, sanctions screening, and logistics routing. It allows smaller, more agile desks to out-execute legacy organisations that rely on manual processes.

Quantara maintains pre-cleared alternative origins and routing for every commodity. For energy and fertilizers typically transiting Hormuz, this means Atlantic Basin, Mediterranean, and North African supply lines that bypass the Arabian Gulf entirely. Every quote includes a contingency route.

No. Every trade is screened against UK, EU, US (OFAC), and UN sanctions frameworks before contract execution. Continuous monitoring is applied throughout the trade lifecycle.

Counterparty risk (automated KYC/AML screening), supply disruption risk (pre-cleared alternative origins), pricing risk (transparent benchmarking against CBOT, LME, Argus, Platts), documentation risk (AI-generated drafts with human verification), and logistics risk (real-time vessel tracking with dynamic rerouting).