Perspective
27 September 2017
It's all in the number crunch
Trafigura, Glencore and FMG Resources were the largest single commodity trading borrowers in the first half of 2017. If that surprises, download TXF's latest Commodities Finance Report for the numbers behind the commodity finance headlines in H1 2017.
The number-crunching bedrock for the commodities finance market - the TXF Commodities Finance Report (H1 2017) - is available to subscribers for download.
The report is drawn from deal data in TXF Media's www.tagmydeals.com - the only commodity finance database in the market. The database range extends from 1 January 2013 to the present day and information is sourced directly from around 45 major international commercial banks, commodity traders and producers
Highlights in the H1 2017 report include:
- In the first half of 2017 banks provided a total of $48.7 billion worth of commodity financing for both commodity producers and traders.
- Commodity traders Trafigura and Glencore, as well as commodity producer FMG Resources, were the largest single recipients of bank financing in the first half of 2017.
- Revolving credit facilities (RCFs) amounted to a total of $28.9 billion in bank financing in H1 2017, down from the $39.5 billion signed in the same period in 2016.
- 73.8% of debt consisted of unsecured lending where RCFs accounted for 59.5% of the total.
- The major traders signed a total of 17 RCFs in the first half of 2017, six less deals than in the same period of 2016, but total volumes decreased by more than $17 billion over the same period.
