In the CTRM space, agricultural and soft commodities are often discussed under the generic “ags and softs” banner as if they had the same requirements and processes, but this clearly doesn’t reflect the subtleties and complexity of trading many of these commodities. It is time for organisations in these supply chains to stop accepting generic technology and to expect software providers are equipped to support the commodities they actually trade.
Metals and concentrates traders are highly creative when it comes to their strategies. They manage pricing based on a wide range of variables to ensure their customers are happy, their products are competitively priced and they maintain a profit margin – even at times when industry margins are tight. One of the ways this creativity is achieved is by maintaining optionality in selecting an exchange to price against or by basing pricing on multiple exchanges through different composite curves.
Responsible sourcing and sustainability in metals are big news at the moment. The LME has announced several new initiatives recently, but these are only the latest in a series of developments in the ESG (environmental, social, governance) space that impacts the entire value chain of every metal.
Until this year, issues with legacy CTRM systems were widely discussed at industry events and conferences but improvements have been slow to emerge. Now, with the disruptive events of 2020, businesses have no choice but to innovate, and are finding that when they do, not only is the implementation less challenging than they believed, but that the technology conveys far more benefits than they initially expected. As an example, below we explore what makes Gen10’s CommOS quick to implement and how it solves the challenges of data visibility, managing operations and mitigating risk.
Of over 100 vendors recognised by CTRM users in a recent survey, Gen10 were named among the market leaders in a range of categories. Out of over 100 vendors named by a global audience, Gen10 were named among the top 20 market leaders overall, and among the top 10 market leaders for metals, based on the percentage of respondents who named each vendor as a market leader.
