Enabling sustainable societies with smart & safe commodity trading is part of our culture and our commitment to the industry, and we will not discount it.
(The future is not what it used to be, and commodities sourcing and trading is a huge responsibility. We are the movers of the commodities, and before we move them, we must know the labor utilized to avoid exploitation (the fertilizers and production methods of our counterparties).
An oceanic awakening and Herald awake-up call to the potential of our Oceans in an era of unprecedented global change. Our choice is to choose more environmentally friendly produced commodities to clean energy and clean zero-emissions transportation means. Our group is focused on the radical transformation of the world's marine and energy industries into one supremely efficient, ecologically sound, digitally connected, and collaborative ecosystem.
From our counterparties to our suppliers and consumers, we all have an essential role to play with a voice. One company is a pioneer and will continue to lead towards a more sustainable environment. With COP26 drawing to a close, increased pressure has been put on the maritime industry to accelerate its decarbonization process. Twenty-two countries (including Australia, Canada, Japan, USA, UK, France, Norway, Denmark, Germany & the Netherlands), but notably except for China, have signed up to the Clydebank Declaration with the signatories of the Declaration supporting the establishment of so-called 'green shipping corridors,' or zero-emission maritime routes between 2 (or more) ports. The signatories aim to establish at least six of these corridors by the middle of the decade.
The hire of our employees, employee compensation, safety, and health standards, among others, are compliance-based codes of ethics.
Global Compliance and Ethics Program establishes the CLEAR framework for Conducting Legal, Ethical, and Responsible business. It is how we turn our Global Code of Conduct,which is our commitment to ethical decision-making and legal compliance, into action.
The boundary defined by law, rules, regulations, or standards relevant to your business and industry comply with compliance. In business, compliance is essential. With a compliance program in place, you can avoid negative exposure, avoid lawsuits, improve your bottom line and retain staff, amongst other things.
Ethics includes considering the right, the good, and the virtuous actions to take in a particular circumstance, reaching a judgment, and having the resolve and courage to act accordingly. In our group, ethics and compliance go in paralleled and keep proximity reflecting the company's global reputation.
In summary, commodity prices are still heavily reliant on the dynamics of the Chinese economy. Still, structural changes in key industries, such as the US oil and gas or Australian iron ore sectors, have also triggered significant shifts in product flow, whose impact is influencing the markets. Where anticipated, these shifts allow major traders to benefit from solid sourcing and marketing positions. Where traders are following the market, we see traders performing strategic reviews of their non-core assets. The more prominent, more diversified traders are mothballing assets and focusing on cost reduction while waiting for commodity prices to increase. The smaller, less diversified resource players will be forced to consider selling their non-core (or high-cost) assets at relatively low prices. Look for private equity and other financial investors to enter the M&A market, searching for bargains in the hope of commodity prices rising in the future. Traders will continue to pick up logistical assets to extend their scale advantages in key product platforms. These trends result in an expected reshuffling of assets in favor of the more prominent, financially sound traders and new market entrants looking for bargains.
Enhancing the value chain.
Commodity trading companies like NCO have continued to seek opportunities to strengthen their value chains through acquisitions. We expect to see deals sparked by traders' desire to own storage facilities, as most expect commodity prices to rise from their current levels in the foreseeable future (reflected, for example, in crude oil's contango forward price curve). Most oil storage is still captive (i.e., owned by oil majors). Given the capital efficiency initiatives in place in those companies, we can expect more storage to be released to the market, particularly in regions where demand has softened, such as Europe's ARA terminals area.