Having a clear understanding of market conditions is an essential component of Trafigura’s day-to-day business. The Research Team is responsible for the Company’s views and understanding of all the different commodities and geographies in which we trade and do business. Whether it is looking at Global Crude flows, Chinese consumption of Zinc, Chilean production of Copper concentrates or Indian use of LNG, the Research Team provides the Company’s in-house view on how these markets are operating and evolving.
By creating an independent view, using both internal and external information and data, we are able to craft a real-time picture of market conditions in order to help Trafigura’s traders make informed decisions and to spot market opportunities as they develop. A role with the Research Team requires the ability both to examine the detailed data and also to form a broad market perspective. As such, a strong analytical toolkit, knowing how to form an independent view, clear communication skills and an understanding of market dynamics are all key components of the role.
Meet one of the team
Meet one of our graduates in Mumbai
In order to see twitter feed and videos, please enable statistics and marketing cookies, click here. Then reload the page.
Meet one of our graduates in Mumbai
05 April 2016
Meet one of Impala Terminals’ business analysts
In order to see twitter feed and videos, please enable statistics and marketing cookies, click here. Then reload the page.
Meet one of Impala Terminals’ business analysts
28 March 2014
A day in a life of a graduate on analysis
Graduate on analysis
Country Switzerland - Geneva
Education: A level
History: Started on the Trafigura Apprenticeship Programme, now on first Graduate Programme rotation on Analysis
Interests: Skiing, sport, films
Grab a coffee and a fresh croissant on the way into work. The first task of the day is to send out a morning outlook to keep the traders that I support well informed about changes in the market that have occurred overnight, as the emergence of LNG has made gas trading a truly global business - there are a lot of factors that can change every day. For this I have to look at a wide range of factors that could have an impact on gas prices, with the main ones to watch being the weather forecasts and the daily nominations to track any changes in supply and demand that could move prices.
After I have sent the daily outlook, I will go through my supply and demand balances for countries across Europe, to go over the slightly longer term view and make sure that the traders are aware of any events in the future.
To successfully understand gas you also have to follow coal, renewables, power, LNG, and weather. This makes every day interesting as there is always something to look at. For example, two major outages of North Sea oil and gas pipelines and nuclear power plant maintenance rapidly changed the natural gas supply and demand balance in Europe this week with prices responding accordingly. Throughout the day I will usually balance longer term projects such as tracking LNG vessels into Europe or building out supply and demand balances, with requests from traders such as analysing certain trade ideas or trying to explain why fundamentals are moving in a certain direction.
I head out to get a takeaway Pad Thai from a local restaurant before then refreshing all my weather forecasts and send out an update on the latest prices for contracts that the traders are following or interested in.
In the afternoon I will work on longer term fundamental outlooks, for example the month or season ahead. Because gas is such a seasonal product you constantly have to follow the factors for the day ahead but also the next 6 months. The traders will usually ask to see specific things such as the level of European storage, or the latest pipeline exports from Russia. The work is genuinely interesting, and you’re trying to cover so many different areas of the market that there is always something to do. A big benefit is that you learn how the physical market works, but also how these real life events impact the financial trading too. From one day I could be looking at wind power output in Germany and nuclear reactors in France, and then the next be looking at prices and spreads and trying to find an opportunity that the traders may be interested in – this exposure to trading is what makes the role so enjoyable.
Done for the day - heading out to football with a few of the guys from the office, then get a bite to eat in one of the many restaurants.
