The world’s largest commodity traders are investing heavily in data processing and analysis in a race to develop a technological edge over rivals.
Groups such as Vitol and Trafigura, which traditionally relied on political connections, handshakes and logistical skill to move natural resources from remote locations to willing buyers, are increasingly focused on how to apply artificial intelligence in the most physical of industries.
“In a way it’s an arms race,” Russell Hardy, chief executive of Vitol, the world’s biggest oil trader, told the FT Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne this month. Trading houses were seeking to use AI in two main ways, he said — to improve business efficiency and to develop a trading “edge” by having more analytical power than competitors.