The HC Commodities Podcast Paul Chapman, HC Group

In this episode, to celebrate 200 episodes and a name change, our host Paul Chapman reflects on the podcast, its goals and development and the back catalogue. A body of work, still highly relevant, that has traced the trends, participants and individual commodities (some old and some new), through one of the most interesting periods in the sector’s long history.

Trade finance is the lifeblood of the commodity sector. Liquidity shrank throughout the last decade in the wake of regulatory changes. Now deglobalization and sanctions, environmental pressures and volatility threaten this key resource. How have the banks responded and what of alternative providers? What does this mean for commodity traders and the markets themselves? Kristofer is the founder of Kimura, an asset management business dedicated to the commodities sector, with a central focus on private credit trade finance.

In this episode, we do a deep dive into the dry freight market and how bulk commodities are shipped around the world and by whom. As the commodities markets themselves become more efficient, freight markets are starting to represent one of the biggest sources of risk and opportunity available to traders and charterers. This, in turn, is driving convergence between the traditional separation between ship owners, charterers and the traders. What is the structure of the market for dry freight? How do participants use Freight Forward Agreements? What is the impact on talent? And how could coming technology disrupt and develop this volatile corner of the commodities world. Our guest is Mads Frank Markussen, Head of Research and Market Intelligence at the European ship owner and freight trader, Navi Merchants

On April 16th, we hosted a live podcast event in Geneva to celebrate the launch of our office there, sponsored by Artis Works and Allasso to discuss the past, current and future status of Switzerland as a commodities trading hub. Why and how did Switzerland become the key commodities trading hub in Europe? What are the key components of a thriving ecosystem? How have sanctions and the rise of the UAE threatened this? And what does the future hold with the energy transition and digitization. Our panelists were Simon Collins, CEO of Tradecloud and Chairman of HC Group, Ivo Sarjanovic, Professor at the University of Geneva, Sanctions and trade finance expert Sarah Hunt, Partner at HFW and Florence Schurch, Secretary General of the Swiss shipping and trading association, SuisseNegoce.

In this episode, Ariel Perez, Head of Environmental Products at Hartree Partners, returns to update us on the state of the carbon markets over the last two years in a more inflationary and unstable world? Global commodity leaders are calling for a price for carbon – are we any closer? How have compliance markets fared in the energy crisis and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? Have compliance markets expanded globally? How have voluntary markets fared? What were the key outcomes from COP28 and what does the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism mean for the world? Could this be the catalyst for a global carbon pricing mechanism that can provide the much needed basis for market based solutions to the energy crisis.

In this bonus episode, I give my views on the key takeaways from this year's FT Commodities Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland. This annual gathering of the top executives and thinkers in commodities is one of the key opportunities to take the pulse of the sector and hear from its leading thinkers. This is my take on what was top of mind.