THE ENDGAME FOR COMMODITY TRADERS WHY ONLY THE BIGGEST AND DIGITALLY ADVANCED TRADERS WILL THRIVE Alexander Franke • Roland Rechtsteiner • Graham Sharp he commodity trading industry is a critical mass in one or more commodities confronting a new, less profitable reality. and the rest of the pack is widening. Within TAfter flatlining for several years, the a few years, the industry will have a different industry’s gross margins in 2016 dipped 4.5 profile – one that is even more dominated by percent to $42 billion, our research shows. the biggest players. (See Exhibit 1.) This decline is setting off a torrent of deal-making and speculation that is transforming the face of commodity WHY BIG MATTERS trading – with examples like Hong Kong-based Noble Group selling part of its business to the The beginning of the endgame started last global energy trader, Vitol; oil trader Gunvor in year with the decline in margins and took off talks with potential acquirers; and Swiss trading in earnest in 2017, as we predicted in our 2016 giant Glencore circling US grain trader Bunge. report, “Reimagining Commodity Trading.” As companies tried to adjust to the industry’s The industry’s endgame has started. From new economics, the clear edge for larger oil to agriculture, building scale is proving operations started to become evident. It didn’t to be the key competitive advantage for the matter if commodity traders had sprawling future. The largest trading companies – both global businesses diversified across various diversified firms and those concentrating commodities or if they specialized in one or two. on a single commodity – use their financial Either way, the larger traders with more than strength to dominate the industry’s largest, $500 million in gross margins per commodity most profitable trades and invest in cutting- class experienced 30 percent less gross-margin edge technology.As these traders solidify volatility on average than smaller traders, our their lead, the gap between those players with research shows. (See Exhibit 2.) EXHIBIT 1: COMMODITY TRADING’S NEW REALITY After stabilizing the past several years, gross margins are sagging US$ BILLIONS, 20102016, MARKET SHARES IN PERCENT 44 44 42 39 Oil 38 38 35 LNG NA power and gas EU power and gas Metals Niche Coal Soft Investor 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Notes: Sum of products may not equal to total due to rounding; significance of shift overstated in graphic due to rounding; niche consists of emissions, Asia power and gas and exotics (weather). Source: Oliver Wyman proprietary data and analysis 2 EXHIBIT 2: COMMODITY TRADING GROSS MARGIN VOLATILITY Larger commodity traders have less gross margin volatility GROSS MARGIN VOLATILITY DEPENDING ON SIZE AND FOOTPRINT % VARIATION FROM AVERAGE GROSS MARGIN, 20102016 50% 45% 40% 35% 35% 33% 30% Average 25% 24% 20% 23% 15% 10% 5% 0% “BIG” “SMALL” “BIG” “SMALL” (> US$ 500 million (< US$ 500 million (> US$ 500 million (< US$ 500 million gross margin per gross margin per gross margin per gross margin per commodity class) commodity class) commodity class) commodity class) TRADERS THAT FOCUS ON ONE COMMODITY CLASS TRADERS WITH CROSSCOMMODITY FOCUS Source: Publicly available data, Oliver Wyman analysis This greater resilience permitted the industry’s superior shipping and logistics capabilities, and largest players to take greater risks, and in the ability to source and substitute commodities turn, that meant they could strike the bigger, globally and accommodate fragmented more profitable, multi-year deals. The same wholesale customers. few names – Glencore, Trafigura, Vitol, BP, and Shell – repeatedly were the ones carrying out the On almost every front, global commodity industry’s largest transactions. (See Exhibit 3.) trading giants are coping more easily with As they did, their market share grew. In LNG and thinner trading margins in increasingly oil, for instance, traders with at least $500 million mature and less volatile commodity markets, in gross margins per commodity class today stretching from the developed countries capture two-thirds of the gross margins in each of Europe and North America to emerging commodity – more than double what it had been economies in Asia. But to achieve these six years before in some categories. standards, it takes investment that some players can’t afford. Given these advantages, even the biggest players are working to get even bigger. With increased scale and scope, they keep raising the A RETURN bar for the industry on what it takes to compete. ON INVESTMENT Today, leveraging proprietary information on commodity flows across commodities and One reason for the better economics: The geographies to capture more value is becoming largest trading operations are reaping the a prerequisite for staying in the game. So is rewards of years of investing in building accessing attractive financing for large deals, out their global reach and capabilities while 3 EXHIBIT 3: COMMODITY TRADING’S BIG DEALS The industry’s biggest traders repeatedly secure the industry’s largest deals 10 OF THE LARGEST DEALS IN 2015, 2016 AND 2017 COMPANY DATE DEAL SIZE /VALUE Vitol Sep 2017 Vitol provides oil-backed loans to state-controlled companies in Kazakhstan $5 billion Vitol Apr 2017 Vitol makes advance payments for crude to state-owned oil company in Kazakhstan $3 billion Vitol Jan 2017 Vitol funds refined products-backed loan to National Iranian Oil Co. $1billion Glencore Nov 2017 Glencore completes silver streaming deal (sale of future output) sale of future $900 million silver output to Silver Wheaton Corp Glencore Mar 2017 Glencore sells two mines to zinc company in return for larger stake in the company and $400 million exclusive marketing rights for all of its mines Glencore Mar 2017 Glencore pre-pays Iraqi Kurdistan for oil $300 million BP/Shell Oct 2017 BP and Shell sign 15-year contract for LNG with PTT of Thailand Undisclosed Gunvor/Eni Jan 2017 Supply of LNG secured by Pakistan from Gunvor and Eni over a five-year (Gunvor) Undisclosed and 15-year (Eni) period Glencore Feb 2017 Glencore is selected as sole marketer of one-third of Libya’s current crude oil production Undisclosed BP/Eni Oct 2016 BP and Eni sign 20-year deal to buy LNG off the coast of Mozambique Undisclosed Source: Publicly available data, Oliver Wyman analysis simultaneously streamlining processes and on both sides grew by 50 percent in energy, as cutting costs. Today, in spite of their sprawling much as 100 percent in precious metals, and up size, global titans can nimbly manage deals to 200 percent in some agricultural products, across the globe from the point of sourcing according to a white paper written by two to account settlement for a transaction. At economists from the US Commodity Futures the same time, they have managed to cut Trading Commission (CFTC). Some players their operational costs by as much as one- are even bringing in tools as sophisticated third without affecting their commercial or as blockchain technology. For instance, a operational performance. cross-industry consortium – including many of the largest oil companies and independent More cost-savings and speed lie ahead as trading firms – has started to explore ways to the larger companies continue to invest in standardize data exchanges using blockchain digitizing their middle and back offices. In technology in an effort to reduce both cost power and gas, for example, at least half of and risk. today’s trades in commodity classes such as North American and European power and gas are carried out by automated trading systems NEW DIGITAL with no human interaction. COMPETITION AND MARKET INTELLIGENCE The portion of robot-to-robot commodity trades is rapidly growing across other categories Given the industry’s upheaval, it’s not as well. Between 2012 and 2016, futures surprising that digital e-commerce giants transactions using automated trading systems like Alibaba and Amazon are attempting to 4 encroach on existing pockets of value. For a few agricultural-commodities traders now instance, wholesale platform providers like provide farmers with portals – business-to- Alibaba and IndiaMart.com are rolling out small business-to-consumer platforms – that allow to medium-sized enterprise trading platforms the farmer to obtain attractive financing in key emerging markets that challenge the packages with their commodity hedges at a first and last-mile of a trader’s business – often fraction of their total present cost. the critical margin component – by providing cheap and easily accessible cross-border More important, the bigger commodity traders finance and credit-risk reporting capabilities. become, the more capital they have to invest in the latest analytics and artificial intelligence that These new industry faces can threaten smaller let them capitalize on the vast proprietary data in players or may represent a potential strategic their portfolios and supply chains. Increasing their partnership for them. For those not in the ability to transform data into meaningful market top tier, the challenge will be to build up intelligence only enhances their competitive enough scale and embrace as much advanced advantage and permits them to mitigate risks technology as they can afford. Digital players much more effectively than in the past. like Amazon and Alibaba could represent a more affordable avenue to achieving that goal. Indeed, some leaders are pioneering business practices and setting new trading standards Meanwhile, top commodity traders are also that were practically nonexistent