The AGA Partners team successfully represented a leading Ukrainian soft commodities trader in the first instance and appeal London arbitration against a Turkish soft commodities trader in a dispute arising from a contract for the sale of wheat on a CIF Iskanderun/Mersin basis. 

The dispute concerned the buyer’s wrongful refusal to perform the contract on the grounds that it had allegedly not been concluded, and the subsequent premature declaration of the Client in default due to the alleged failure to ship the grain within the contractual shipment period. 

In the course of the arbitration, AGA Partners’ lawyers presented compelling arguments in favour of the view that the contract had been concluded and was being duly performed by the Client, and that the buyers put the Client in default prematurely. The 1st instance arbitral tribunal upheld the Client’s position, but refused to award damages, finding that the Client had allegedly mitigated them by reselling the goods. 

The AGA Partners team successfully challenged this decision in the appeal arbitration, proving that the Client’s supply of the goods to another buyer following the opponent’s premature default declaration was carried out under a contract concluded prior to the disputed contract and, consequently, did not constitute a mitigation resale. The appellate arbitration awarded the Client over USD 200,000 in damages and arbitration costs. 

Following this decision, AGA Partners’ lawyers conducted successful negotiations with the buyer, resulting in the conclusion of a settlement agreement on terms favourable to the Client and its full performance. 

Partner Ivan Kasinyuk, Senior Associate Yuriy Bedenko and Associate Viktor Pasichnyk contributed to the success of this case.