http://m.24.com/content/FullArticle.aspx?aid=ARTICLE_2314193&cat=Finance&sh=Finance
Africa is the land of plenty of stuff but a severe shortage of infrastructure. There is, of course, a golden benefit to some people from a lack of power, and that is reduced production and higher prices. The downside is when people want to put in a new plant, they are going to head for [...]
Entries from April 2008
April 29, 2008
Can we keep the lights on, please?
April 28, 2008
Freight premium or not?
This weekend you could not miss it: Some newspapers were saying the Chinese would pay a freight premium (see the story at the Australian), and some newspapers were saying that the Chinese would not (see the story at Reuters). The fact is the spot market does not help anyone. It hurts the Chinese on the [...]
April 28, 2008
Porter’s Five Forces
It is hard to think about the commodities business rationally, yet you have to do it if you are going to understand which businesses you like and which you do not like. To make these decisions, the first issue is figuring out a system or a structure in which to look at the different markets. [...]
April 25, 2008
The strength of Vale
Nickel trades on the LME; iron ore does not. The underlying value of Vale (aka CVRD) is the stability of its iron ore earnings. That is what makes it a great company. The question I ask is will they succeed in taking the volatility out of the other markets as they further consolidate them. Companies [...]
April 25, 2008
Relaunching benjamincox.com
The Roche Bay List, my last blog, went strong from roughly 2002-2006. Through this blog, I thought about and developed the ideas that made Roche Bay the success it is today; I also got my management team and my long-term business plan. Now that the project is managed by AXI, I am starting another blog [...]
