It has been a busy few weeks for events at Gen10, both online and in-person. It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that the common discussion themes across these events are those of volatility, trying to keep up with an ever-changing risk landscape, and whether AI can help us solve these challenges.
The Future of Cotton
At the recent ICA International Trade Event in Dubai, The Future of Cotton, there were many discussions of what cotton merchants, and commodity traders more generally, can do in response to the challenging environment we find ourselves in. Strategies centred around creating greater traceability and supply chain transparency, with communication and collaboration benefiting all players in the supply chain.
We also took part in several conversations around how Commodity Management Systems can help commodity traders improve their operations and business decision-making. We found that many merchants are not fully aware of just how powerful these collaboration tools can be in helping organisations create actionable insights and tangible business results from their data.
LME Week
Digital innovation also featured in the discussions at the LME Week Metals Seminar in London. Discussions around extreme volatility, trade tariffs and the unpredictability of the coming months also included a session discussing how AI and digital innovation are shaping the future of metals. The session highlighted how AI is particularly useful in making data more accessible and allowing collaboration using data that would previously have been unavailable to non-experts.
Commodity Finance and Risk Online
We have also had several events from Commodities People, including Energy Trading Week Europe, Energy Trading Week Americas, and Commodity Finance and Risk Online. These events highlighted many challenges facing commodities, including a changing legislative environment in both APAC and the EU leaving many traders waiting for clarity, geopolitical tensions and freight rates, weather risks, and other sources of volatility.
Panellists discussed a range of challenges and how commodity traders can respond. One interesting discussion centred around increased instances of contractual breaches and how KYC has changed in recent years, with ongoing monitoring of counterparty risk using more, and real-time, data sources now standard.
The panel Building smarter capital and crisis strategies for 2026 explored the rapid pace of change in risk modelling, with one comment that the companies we today consider unprepared are in the situation market leaders were in just a few years ago, as the risk landscape is moving so quickly. One example mentioned was that live P&L, which used to be considered the leading edge, is a minimum requirement today.
And, continuing the theme seen at other events, the panel pointed out that a lack of communication and timely collaboration is exacerbating these risk factors. Commodity traders need to create a culture of understanding risk, and this relies on a culture of collaboration so that your teams can generate a complete picture of risk factors.
Trading organisations need to move towards a holistic view across buying, selling, and hedging so that they can understand risk in an integrated way. As Gen10 also frequently say, a well-functioning organisation needs to be collaborative, with all teams connected if they are to have the visibility they need to create real, positive results for the business.
In a separate panel, it was noted that data is a trader’s most valuable asset. People can only make decisions based on the data they have and when they have it, so any improvements in collaboration can have a significant and lasting impact on the business’ bottom line. Digitalising your data systems and ensuring they empower your teams to truly collaborate in real-time is absolutely essential in the current commodity risk environment, and traders cannot afford to fall behind. Having the right tools in place to understand and share your data enables your organisation to not only manage operational and financial risks like never before, it also gives your people the ability to capture more opportunities and improve business results.
Join the conversation
With so many events exploring the challenges facing the commodities industry, what are we actually doing to solve these challenges? Find out first-hand from Gen10 CEO Richard Williamson at one of our upcoming sponsored events. You can catch Richard discussing The Next-Gen of Intelligence for Commodity Trading Desks live at the online Digitalisation in Commodities event on 19th November. The panel will be discussing how to cut through the data noise to focus on what really matters, and how you can close data gaps within your own organisation. Expect actionable insights on building proactive data strategies and an analysis of how tools such as AI are being used in trading organisations today.
Richard will also be attending Commodity Trading Week APAC in Singapore in January, where he will be discussing The Art of AI – Deploying and scaling AI solutions across trading functions. Again, this session will be exploring tangible and proven strategies for integrating AI solutions, scaling AI initiatives, and the business benefits from real-world case studies.
You can also get in touch with us at any time to explore how CommOS, our Commodity Management System, can help your organisation power collaboration, data-driven decisions, and lasting bottom-line results.
We look forward to connecting with you!
