The HC Commodities Podcast

This week battery metals expert and CEO of Benchmark Minerals Intelligence joins Enco Insights to provide a quick view on Graphite, the indispensable anode material in the energy transition.  

The UN predicts global population will peak sometime in 2080s around 10 billion people. Companies, countries (think global social security schemes) and the commodities sector predicates forecasts on these assumptions. Yet, there is a growing body of evidence that these assumptions are far too optimistic and that not only will global population peak earlier but will subsequently decline much more rapidly. Already much of the West and Asia is in decline and replacement rates of falling at an accelerated pace. Is this a long-range risk no board rooms are talking about? Our guest is analyst, futurist and swine consultant Todd Thurman who has become a global authority on the subject on how it will impact the commodities world. 

In this episode we review the major themes and events for the Natural Gas markets in 2023 and what that might herald for 2024. The gas markets and LNG are now the crucial global energy balancer. What happened in 2023? What were the key market, regulatory and policy actions and how did countries and participants fare? What are the key factors and milestones to look at for 2024 and beyond? Our guest is Anne-Sophie Corbeau, Global Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. 

Enco Insights is a global expert network dedicated to the energy & resources sector. www.encoinsights.comYou can find out about Zodia Markets here:https://zodiamarkets.com/about-us/#our-team

Global food production faces the twin challenges of meeting growing demand while achieving that both sustainably and lowering carbon emissions. In this episode we dive into what this actually means . What is the impact of agriculture on carbon emissions and how does the sector impact the environment? How are farmers, processors, traders and shippers building sustainability into practices and strategy? What are the policy frameworks and incentives globally? And how are competitive advantages being created through this? Our guest is Robert Horster, Global Sustainability Director Agricultural Supply Chain and Head of Environmental Markets for Cargill.

Who prices Lithium today and who will trade it in the future? In this episode we dive back into the Lithium supply chains. What forms of Lithium are traded and how are contracts structured and priced? What efforts are the exchanges making to create liquidity and risk management tools and will the trading houses of today dominate Lithium trading in the future? Our guests are Simons Moores, founder and CEO, and Caspar Rawles,Chief Data Officer, at Benchmark Minerals Intelligence, the independent price reporting agency and consultancy focused on battery metals. 

This week, journalist and author, Rob Copeland joins to discuss his explosive best-selling book: The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates and the unravelling of a Wall St Legend. Long seen as the paragon of systematic trading, Bridgewater grew to the largest hedge fund in history. Alongside that, its founder, Ray Dalio - a one-time commodities trader - a business legend with his best-selling books and his devotion to his “Principles”. Rob’s book exposes a very different fund and leader. We dive into the unique culture and management style Ray created which includes 24hr surveillance, inquisitions over bagels and very public take downs. And also how exactly the fund invested. Rob is a finance reporter for the New York Times.

Julie McLaughlin and Elizaveta Malashenko of Alvarez & Marsal discuss challenges and opportunities in the renewable energy sector, including rising costs, disrupted supply chains, and the impact of weather events. They explore the importance of building resiliency and robustness, as well as the challenges faced by renewable energy projects in unpredictable markets and changing weather patterns. Additionally, they highlight the significance of interest rates, commercialization challenges, and the role of batteries in the renewable sector. They also touch upon the future of the industry and public understanding.

The commodity trading world is adjusting to greater volatility and higher capital costs. Individual companies are needing to increase their market and commodity footprints to navigate the energy transition while many are building trading capabilities for the first time. Commodity Trading Risk Management software, the backbone of any trading platform, needs to keep up. The wrong choice can be very costly. How have CTRM’s evolved over the last 5 years in capability, price and implementation? Sameer Soleja, CEO of Molecule, one of the most modern, cloud based CTRM, joins us to discuss.You can visit Molecule at: www.moledule.ioand HC Group at www.hcgroup.globalFor more episodes on CTRM listen to https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hc-insider-podcast-conversations-in-energy/id1512721188?i=1000515160695

The Dark Cloud: The hidden costs of a digital world with Guillaume PitronWhat is the energetic consequence of a simple ‘like’ on social media? Or a zoom call? Modern technology is underpinned by a very real material and energetic infrastructure that is putting immense strain on energy production and the world’s natural resources. 5G and AI have supercharged this consumption. Yet, technology companies have been successful in creating a “dematerialized” perception. The energy transition and sustainability emphasis has focused largely on the energy & commodities world while tech is seen by many as clean and green. It is not. This is the story our guest,  investigative journalist and author, Guillaume Pitron has told in his book “The Dark Cloud” published in English this year by Scribe.