Commodity trading is not as simple as it used to be, and increasing environmental and sustainability demands are only adding to the operational and reporting burdens.
In this interview, Richard Williamson, Gen10 CEO & Founder, sits down with Ben Hillary from Commodities People to discuss this increasing complexity and how we can respond to it. The discussion centres around how commodity trading has evolved from the simpler buy-sell-ship-hedge transactions to a complex landscape with detailed reporting requirements on emissions, sustainability and environmental impact.
Richard explores the goals of COP28, as well as new legislation affecting commodity traders, including the EU Deforestation Regulation, its scope, and risks to commodity importers. He goes on to explain how commodity traders are rising to these challenges by creating new roles and buying in new point solutions, but that this can create challenges in itself, especially if the organisation’s digital solutions are not integrated with each other. Richard explains how easily challenges such as reporting and sustainability can lead to organisational silos, particularly if the CTRM is not integrated and sharing data with your other commodity management systems such as vessel trackers.
Ben and Richard then go on to discuss the importance of understanding the nuances between commodity types and how these can affect data requirements and digital solutions. With experience of adapting systems to over 100 commodity types, Richard explains why these nuances matter in a digital setting, how digital systems need to reflect real-world trading activities, and the techniques and technologies Gen10 leverage to provide the flexibility to meet these needs.
The conversation provides a summary of a commodity trading environment facing increasing complexity, where new reporting obligations are creating challenges for all parties. But it also shows that these challenges can be addressed, and both traceability and daily operations improved, by connecting the physical and digital worlds, and integrating all relevant data sources so that the business’ teams can get back to what they do best – buying, hedging, selling, and shipping.
Watch the full conversation now:
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