Court rules on GAFTA tribunal’s jurisdiction in relation to a second, subsequent contract

Court rules on GAFTA tribunal’s jurisdiction in relation to a second, subsequent contract

CAFI – Commodity and Freight Integrators DMCC -v- GTCS Trading DMCC [2025] EWHC 1350 (Comm)

The Commercial Court has found that where parties entered a subsequent contract which agreed to vary or extinguish rights under an earlier contract, the arbitral tribunal formed pursuant to the first contract had jurisdiction to interpret the terms of the subsequent contract. Unusually, the Court granted the appeals under sections 67, 68 and 69 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (AA 1996).

The background facts

The underlying dispute related to two contracts for the sale and purchase of Russian milling wheat, between CAFI Commodity & Freight Integrators DMCC (CAFI) as buyers and GTCS Trading DMCC (GTCS) as seller