Enable data-driven decision making and develop actionable strategies for commodity risk management with easy-to-consume, forward-looking market insights, driven by the latest advances in AI, analytics and technology.
Supercharge Procurement’s ability with our cutting-edge Commodity Intelligence solution:
- Commodity Analytics: Access 360° market insights, macro analysis, and expert forecasts to make strategic decisions and mitigate risks.
- Predictive Intelligence: Gain commodity insights through AI-powered price forecasts and understand the potential impact of market events in near real-time to manage risks effectively.
- Risk Management and Strategy Support: Unlock the power of data analytics to combine business and market data to develop strategies for better profitability.
- Consultations and Customised Solutions: On-demand support from our commodity specialists, ensuring insights are contextualised to your business needs, enabling you to drive better outcomes.
- Wide Commodity Coverage: Broad coverage across industries and commodity groups, including Agro, Dairy, Livestock, Pulp and Paper, Resins, Petrochemicals, Energy, Metals and many more.
Get ahead of commodity market fluctuations – and stay ahead
Commodity price risk is one of the leading risks facing organisations globally and is predicted to become the 3rd most critical risk by 2026. Many businesses have reported that a combination of internal factors and volatile commodity markets hinder their ability to manage commodity risks effectively and deliver tangible business value.
To effectively mitigate the risks associated with volatile commodity prices and supply/demand fundamentals on budgetary targets, procurement teams must be able to:
Access reliable forecasts and analysis reports to gain a true picture of their position in the market – and a view of where commodity markets are headed.
Accelerate information gathering and spend more time focusing on creating mitigation strategies than piecing together diverse, incomplete data.
Cut through market noise and understand which commodities truly pose a threat to their category and broader procurement strategies.
Build ongoing, always-on insight programmes that free them to achieve their full potential as strategic advisors to the rest of the business.
We do more than just provide commodity market data…
Our Commodity Intelligence solution leverages a unique blend of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and HI (Human Intelligence), which combines The Smart Cube’s proven forecasting models with analysis of your internal data to deliver reliable commodity price forecasts and impact assessments that are contextualised for your business. Accessed through Amplifi PRO, our on-demand procurement intelligence platform, your custom Commodity Intelligence solution gives you:
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Commodity Analytics
Price forecasts | Buying recommendations | Cost optimisation toolkit | Supply-Demand outlook | Macroeconomic outlook | Cost structures
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Predictive Intelligence
AI-powered price forecasts | Continuous news monitoring | Event Risk Impact Mitigation (ERIM) | Event alerts
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Risk Management and Strategy Support
Spend inflation analytics | Budget planning | Negotiations | Scenario modelling | 100% contextualised intelligence
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Wide Commodity Coverage
Agro | Dairy and Livestock | Resins | Petrochemicals | Energy and Fuels | Metals and Minerals | Ferro-alloys | Pulp and Paper
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Consultations and Customised Solutions
On-demand consultation | Collaborative discussions | Expert calls | Delivery across multiple platforms
How your business benefits
With Commodity Intelligence from The Smart Cube, you can:
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Make informed decisions faster with accurate commodity price forecasts supplemented with deep understanding of the factors that drive commodity markets.
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Stay on top of key risks associated with global events with our near-real time AI-driven price forecasts, continuous news updates, and Event Risk Impact Mitigation (ERIM) framework.
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Identify cost-saving opportunities and optimise buying strategies for maximum profitability by combining accurate commodity price forecasts with your business data.
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Quantify the business impact of market shifts and set annual procurement budgets alongside cost reduction targets for effective spend and revenue management.
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Improve supplier negotiations by leveraging data-driven intelligence to secure the commodities you need at the right price.
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Spend less time searching for data and more time focusing on risk mitigation strategies for commodities.
How we work with you
We combine your internal data with our proprietary assets and deep commodity market expertise to create the contextualised solutions you need – and we deliver them through custom digital portals and web-based dashboards, so your whole team can make use of them.
Why choose The Smart Cube?
When you choose The Smart Cube’s Commodity Intelligence solution, you always get:
Commodity Intelligence in action
Regression modelling and scenario analysis kept this global confectionary business sweet by avoiding rising sugar prices
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THE CHALLENGE
The category team at this Global top 20 confectionary company was anticipating a rise in sugar prices globally and wanted to identify levers to mitigate this risk.
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OUR APPROACH
The Smart Cube identified two key drivers impacting sugar prices and used regression modelling and scenario analysis on these drivers to assess the impact on the company’s bottom line. We recommended a long-term hedge position in the futures market to mitigate the risk of rising sugar prices.
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VALUE DELIVERED
Based on our recommendation, the category team not only negated the impact of a rise in sugar prices, but also achieved an annual saving of $2.5 million.
Price benchmarking exercise helped global steel manufacturer negotiate better deals with its suppliers and reduce risk
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THE CHALLENGE
A leading global steel manufacturer was facing volatile commodity prices and challenging overall business conditions, which led to pressure to deliver higher cost savings.
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OUR APPROACH
We ran a price benchmarking exercise to map current costs of the client’s various commodities against underlying price indexes, and provide information on market rates, trends, market dynamics, price movements, availability of alternative suppliers, products and Forex rates to produce insights into various cost drivers. We identified key demand-based and commercial negotiation levers and created precise messaging and talking points to negotiate with suppliers.
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VALUE DELIVERED
Using our recommendations, the client generated savings worth £4million (10% of spend) across its key commodity suppliers and agreed new contract terms with suppliers to capitalise on positive commodity price changes and mitigate negative changes, thus reducing risk exposure in the future.
Better contract management for a CPG firm’s meat category delivered quarterly savings of around 5%
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THE CHALLENGE
The client wanted to achieve cost savings by optimising spend on meat categories and wanted to assess potential hedging strategies to mitigate price hikes in the meat category.
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OUR APPROACH
Our custom dashboard showcased the forecast prices of beef and pork for a year and estimated potential savings of up to 8.8% based on the annual spend data. We recommended bringing the contract forward, buying these commodities upfront with delivery in the next quarter to avoid an extra spend of 5% that would have otherwise been incurred due to expected price hikes.
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VALUE DELIVERED
The client followed our recommendations and bought next quarter’s supplies with a later delivery option to avoid an additional spend of €3 million (5% of quarterly spend).