INFORMATION WANTS TO BE FREE:

For commodity traders operating in the Information Age, just good old trading doesn't cut it anymore.

Unlike the stock market in which transactions are typically based on information that's public, firms that buy and sell raw materials thrived for decades in an opaque world where their metier relied on knowledge privy only to a few. Now, technological development, expanding sources of data, more sophisticated producers and consumers as well as transparency surrounding deals are eroding their advantage.

"Everything is transparent, everybody knows everything and has access to information," Daniel Jaeggi, the president of Mercuria Energy Group Ltd., said on Thursday at the Global Trader Summit organized by IE Singapore, a government agency that promotes international trade.

Tweet   @brothersjudd