Transcript
A (0:00)
Foreign.
B (0:05)
Welcome to the HC Commodities Podcast, a podcast dedicated to the commodities sector and the people within it. I'm your host, Paul Chapman. This podcast is produced by HC Group, a global search firm dedicated to the commodities sector. Today we have Archie Hunter, journalist at Bloomberg, who covers commodities, joining the show to get his take on current events as well as the recent FT Global Commodities Summit and compare notes on the key trends that we're seeing. How the current volatility is driving trading house earnings and how too much volatility might cause some challenges, but certainly is driving continued consolidation in the sector and why good times for them is not good times for our wallets. As always, you can really support the show by leaving a positive review on the platform you're listening on and I hope you enjoyed the episode. Archie, welcome to the show.
A (1:03)
Great to be here. Paul, longtime listener, first time caller, I guess.
B (1:06)
Yeah, well, it has been, this has been long in the making and delighted to have you on and get your journalistic take on what's going on as well as the stories you're covering and thinking about. Let's start. Obviously we, we were lucky enough to spend time together at the FT Global Commodities Summit last week, which is always a great event and you know, kind of wanted to basically buttonhole you to do this episode so we could compare notes from that and then move on from there on kind of the key stories which are unfolding every day. But let's start there. What was your general sense of the vibe in the room compared to, let's say, previous years?
A (1:46)
Yeah, I think the vibe, I guess was pretty, pretty cheery. I mean, for those who haven't been to the event, the FT put on pretty great conference for sort of top tier commodity execs and banks in Lausanne every year. And the weather is usually pretty glorious. It's in this lakeside palace in Lausanne and you know, outside, you know, people are talking, doing deals and inside everyone is listening how the world is like incredibly, the world is short of key resources and you know, what, what ways they're able to get things from A to B and, and how the sector is doing. So yeah, it's, it's usually pretty good. I think had it been held a month earlier, things might have been a bit more jittery among the traders and the banks. But on the whole, and I guess this is probably something we'll discuss a bit more in detail later, but in comparison to last year where it felt like margins for trading oil and energy in general had become sort of fairly thin again, or were starting to get lower this time around we're in sort of the mother of all supply shocks for oil. So that's a time when commodity traders have the opportunity to make money. And of course when you're in the middle of that kind of supply shock and supply chain crisis, it's really interesting to hear from the people who are in the middle of everything, have a great viewpoint whether they want to share it all or just a little bit. It's really interesting to get that view.
