1 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:21,599 Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. Hello and welcome to 2 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:25,279 Speaker 1: another episode of the All Thoughts Podcast. I'm Tracy Alloway. 3 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:26,079 Speaker 2: And I'm Joe Wisenthal. 4 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 1: Joe, can I tell you something. It's slightly embarrassing. 5 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:33,199 Speaker 2: This could field many things that but go on. 6 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:37,000 Speaker 1: Okay, So I had a self realization the other day. 7 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:39,560 Speaker 1: I think I might have prepper tendencies. 8 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:41,600 Speaker 3: I didn't know that. 9 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 2: But that doesn't totally surprise. 10 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:43,599 Speaker 3: Like. 11 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:49,599 Speaker 1: You're like, yes, you're a paranoid. This makes total So 12 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:52,919 Speaker 1: the reason I had this realization we recorded an episode 13 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 1: recently on the big surge in cocoa prices, and a 14 00:00:56,920 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: few days after that episode came out, I was like, hmm, 15 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: I should buy some chocolate just in case. So I 16 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:06,960 Speaker 1: went on Amazon and I bought like an industrial size 17 00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:09,960 Speaker 1: package of milk chocolate. And I was like, I'll just 18 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:12,759 Speaker 1: keep it in the pantry. It'll be really convenient. It'll 19 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:15,480 Speaker 1: be there for emergencies. I'm sure I won't eat it 20 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:19,199 Speaker 1: at like ten PM when I'm craving something sweet. I'll 21 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:21,720 Speaker 1: just keep it there for a long time. And so 22 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: I ordered it, and then you know what happened. 23 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:25,480 Speaker 2: Tell me the rest. 24 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 1: Okay, So, The first thing that happened was I never 25 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:31,039 Speaker 1: got the chocolate, which is kind of weird for Amazon, 26 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:33,480 Speaker 1: like they just never fulfilled the order, and the supplier 27 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:35,640 Speaker 1: was like, oops, we don't have enough chocolate, I guess. 28 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,840 Speaker 1: But then secondly, as soon as I did it, prices 29 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:40,720 Speaker 1: of cocoa started falling. 30 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:45,480 Speaker 2: This was the market saving you from a bad trade basically, 31 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 2: And so you put in an order right at the top. 32 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:49,920 Speaker 2: You know, sometimes you need a little luck in life, 33 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 2: and now you can buy the dip. 34 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: That's right. I was fully refunded at the top of 35 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 1: the market, and now I can buy it when it's 36 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:58,280 Speaker 1: slightly more reasonable. But I have to say, I'm looking 37 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: at the chart of cocoa futures right now. So they 38 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 1: searched above eleven thousand, and then they came back down. 39 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 1: Let's see, we're about eight thousand, yeah, right now. So 40 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: it's been something of a roller coaster ride. And the 41 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:15,359 Speaker 1: thing that I don't really understand is when I look 42 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,639 Speaker 1: at coverage of the cocoa market at the moment, there 43 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:23,320 Speaker 1: seems to be consensus that supply is going to be 44 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 1: an issue. So I know, Bloomberg published a survey of 45 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 1: traders where basically everyone was saying that they think prices 46 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:32,160 Speaker 1: are going to go higher. Yeah, we could see over 47 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:36,560 Speaker 1: fifteen thousand dollars later this year, but in the meantime 48 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 1: prices are sliding. So there seems to be a disconnect 49 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 1: there totally. 50 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:43,079 Speaker 2: Well, look, I mean, even if the fundamentals are say, okay, 51 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:45,960 Speaker 2: this market is in deficit or you know, all these 52 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:49,120 Speaker 2: growing conditions, like at some point, as they say, you know, 53 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,280 Speaker 2: trees don't grow to the moon or trees to the sky, 54 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:54,800 Speaker 2: to the sky, whatever it is, so at some point 55 00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:57,760 Speaker 2: like you can have like solid bullish fundamentals in the price. 56 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 2: I mean, it really is crazy because last you know, December, 57 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:03,240 Speaker 2: we were looking at four thousand, so we're still you know, 58 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:04,600 Speaker 2: double so far this year. 59 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:07,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I have to say we do, in fact 60 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:08,920 Speaker 1: have the perfect guest. We're going to be speaking to 61 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:12,680 Speaker 1: someone who timed the big cocoa trade a lot better 62 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: than I did personally in my pantry. But we're going 63 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:18,920 Speaker 1: to be speaking with Pierre on durand he is of 64 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:22,080 Speaker 1: course the founder of on Duran Capital Management. We're going 65 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:25,000 Speaker 1: to talk cocoa and a bunch of other commodities. So Pierre, 66 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:27,000 Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming back. On all thoughts. 67 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 3: Hi, thanks very much my pleasure. 68 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:32,960 Speaker 1: So maybe to begin with talk to us about how 69 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 1: you got interested in Coco, because my understanding is you 70 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: put a big trade on a long position earlier this year. 71 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: It paid off massively, But this isn't a sort of 72 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 1: normal type of trade for you. This is something that 73 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:48,280 Speaker 1: was a little bit different. 74 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:49,200 Speaker 3: Yes. 75 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:52,640 Speaker 4: Well, generally my background is more in energy trading, but 76 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 4: I've traded quite a bit of metals as well a 77 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:57,920 Speaker 4: little bit of agricultural products. But I have one and 78 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 4: thatst was very good and told me generally, per you 79 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 4: should look at Cocoas I'm like, okay, I don't know 80 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 4: anything about it, tell me, And it gave me a 81 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:08,600 Speaker 4: really good presentation that was really interesting. So then we 82 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:12,360 Speaker 4: really digged in really deep together to really understand the 83 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:17,080 Speaker 4: fundancials market. And basically we have a massive supply shortage 84 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 4: this year. I mean we see production down seventeen percent 85 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:23,520 Speaker 4: relative to last year. Most analysts out there have it 86 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 4: down eleven percent, but that's because they tend to be 87 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:29,400 Speaker 4: very conservative. They have a lot of clients and they 88 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 4: don't want to worry the world, so they commu relatively 89 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:37,720 Speaker 4: conservative estimates. But really tracking the exports from the main exporters, 90 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:40,599 Speaker 4: many ivory coasts and Ghana that we put them together 91 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:45,800 Speaker 4: about sixty percent of worlds production. We see basically ivory 92 00:04:45,839 --> 00:04:49,160 Speaker 4: cost exports down thirty percent here to date I mean 93 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 4: seedon to date and down forty one percent. So just 94 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:56,720 Speaker 4: those two countries together since the start of the season, 95 00:04:56,760 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 4: which is the first of October, are down eight hundred 96 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:01,760 Speaker 4: thousand tons. 97 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:03,480 Speaker 3: And now we have the what. 98 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:05,840 Speaker 4: You call the mild crop that is starting, but that 99 00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 4: we present only twenty percent of the balance of the 100 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:14,279 Speaker 4: season for West Africa and that's not going to be 101 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:17,719 Speaker 4: enough to really change the deficit that we have this year. 102 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:19,480 Speaker 3: So we have a deficit of eight. 103 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:22,359 Speaker 4: Hundred thousand tons from those two countries, and then looking 104 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:24,280 Speaker 4: at all the other countries we have, I think the 105 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 4: some are slightly positive, some are slightly negative, but basically 106 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 4: we get to a deficit of eight hundred thousand tons 107 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:33,920 Speaker 4: this year. And so that's the first time we have such, 108 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 4: you know, such a decline in supply, and that's very 109 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:38,920 Speaker 4: hard to. 110 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 3: Make it fit. 111 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,360 Speaker 4: So at first you eat into current inventories until you 112 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:45,000 Speaker 4: run out of inventories, and then the price can go anywhere. 113 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:47,880 Speaker 4: So when we look at okay, what makes the price 114 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:51,480 Speaker 4: of coco right? It's always about supply, supply versus demand. 115 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 4: But what has been capping the price between two thousand 116 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:56,920 Speaker 4: and five hundred dollars a ton and three thousand dollars 117 00:05:56,920 --> 00:06:01,000 Speaker 4: a ton. It was not demand, because demand it's extremely inelastic. 118 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,800 Speaker 4: I mean you can study that historically when you have 119 00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:07,040 Speaker 4: a visession or note, when prices go up a lot 120 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:09,719 Speaker 4: or not, I mean demand journally goes up. And that's 121 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:13,720 Speaker 4: because the amount of in dollar terms, that people consuming 122 00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:16,680 Speaker 4: cocoa is very small. I mean I did the back 123 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:20,279 Speaker 4: of the enveloped calculation the other day. I meant at 124 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:23,000 Speaker 4: basically ten thousand dollars a ton, even though it's four 125 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:27,280 Speaker 4: times the more recent historical prices, out of a market 126 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:31,279 Speaker 4: of five million tons of demand per year. You know, 127 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 4: you have like eight billion people on the planet. So 128 00:06:34,839 --> 00:06:37,800 Speaker 4: in ave wage, it means that people consume one point 129 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:41,320 Speaker 4: seven gramps of coco per day, which at ten thousand 130 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:44,799 Speaker 4: dollars a ton, which isn't one point seven cents per day. Okay, 131 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:47,719 Speaker 4: at the average person, many people eat nothing and a 132 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:49,640 Speaker 4: few eat ten times at a month's. 133 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:52,279 Speaker 1: Tracy, I was going to say, I can personally attest 134 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:54,520 Speaker 1: that my chocolate demand is very in a last. 135 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:58,080 Speaker 4: But yeah, but you know, let's say if you eat 136 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:01,880 Speaker 4: even one tablet, right, so one hundred and twenty five 137 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:05,080 Speaker 4: grams a day, every single day for the wood yet, 138 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 4: which is quite a lot, right of a high high 139 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 4: content of real cocoa. Because you know your milk and 140 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:13,000 Speaker 4: milk chocolate you have like less than ten percent coco 141 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:16,320 Speaker 4: in it, So the price can go up ten times. 142 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:18,880 Speaker 4: Your tablet is only a double in price. It's not 143 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:21,600 Speaker 4: going to react very much to the cocoa price. But 144 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:25,520 Speaker 4: if you take a high content, high chocolate content like 145 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:28,640 Speaker 4: a tablet one hundred and twenty five grams, that mean 146 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:33,480 Speaker 4: that you probably have maximum of fifty grams of cocoa 147 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:34,520 Speaker 4: bin s equipment in it. 148 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:35,640 Speaker 3: I means probably a lot less. 149 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:39,720 Speaker 4: Then you get to an expense of fourteen dollars per 150 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 4: months at current prices, which is an increase of ten 151 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 4: dollars per months relative to when we had a more 152 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:50,240 Speaker 4: normal price. So it means that demands like four more 153 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:54,520 Speaker 4: reasonable chocolate lovers, that increase in price in cocoa just 154 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 4: corresponds to two to five dollars per months. So people 155 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:00,280 Speaker 4: are not going to eat less chocolate because of So 156 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 4: it means that prices really are are capped by the 157 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:05,680 Speaker 4: amount of supply you get. So if you can't get 158 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:09,040 Speaker 4: enough supply, the price can go up a lot until 159 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 4: we get more supply. And when do we get more supply, 160 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:14,360 Speaker 4: Well that in part due to the weather. If you 161 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:17,000 Speaker 4: have much better weather then you get you might get 162 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:20,520 Speaker 4: a more and more supply of coco bin the next year. 163 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:23,200 Speaker 4: But we have some issues that are also structural. So 164 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:26,080 Speaker 4: when we look at the wisons for this large decline 165 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:30,000 Speaker 4: in production this year, I mean a lot of the 166 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:32,920 Speaker 4: wisons are actually structural. I mean we can look at 167 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:37,360 Speaker 4: four weasons why coco bit production has gone down a 168 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:39,679 Speaker 4: lot this year. I mean, first I should give like 169 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:42,480 Speaker 4: a little bit of background of why cocoa is so 170 00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:45,600 Speaker 4: concentrated in West Africa. I mean, it's mainly because it 171 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:51,040 Speaker 4: requires very specific temperature, rainfall, and humidity conditions, and that's 172 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:55,000 Speaker 4: why most of the production is concentrated around a certain latitude. 173 00:08:55,520 --> 00:08:58,440 Speaker 4: So seventy percent in West Africa, and then you have 174 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:02,000 Speaker 4: a twenty one percent in Many Latin America and five 175 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:06,520 Speaker 4: percent in Asia and Oceania. So the main reasons why 176 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:10,679 Speaker 4: we lost a lot of productions. This year is number one. Weather, 177 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 4: so some of it due to El Nino. We had 178 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:16,360 Speaker 4: a bili period of time when it was too hot 179 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:18,560 Speaker 4: and period of time when we had way too much rain. 180 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:22,560 Speaker 4: Second is climate change, So climate change is every year 181 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:27,680 Speaker 4: shifting the weather patterns generally unfavorably for coco productions. 182 00:09:28,160 --> 00:09:29,440 Speaker 3: Then you have two disease. 183 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:32,520 Speaker 4: You have one called the black pot disease that that 184 00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 4: come from a fungus and it took hers mainy during 185 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:39,559 Speaker 4: the rainy season. It's spread by brent splash so big 186 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:41,840 Speaker 4: it can't go when it's dry. And then you have 187 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:44,840 Speaker 4: a virus called the Swolen shoot disease. It's not a 188 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:48,480 Speaker 4: new disease. It was discovered in nineteen thirty six. It's 189 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:52,960 Speaker 4: transmitted by millibugs, but it dequisits cocoa yields a lot 190 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:56,280 Speaker 4: so bili. A tree that has that Throlen shoot disease 191 00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:59,839 Speaker 4: loses twenty five percent yield within the first year and 192 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:03,680 Speaker 4: fifty percent within two years, and the tree dies within 193 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:06,440 Speaker 4: three to four years. And we've had like actually a 194 00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:10,600 Speaker 4: spread of that disease like over the last year. And 195 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:13,560 Speaker 4: then also we had less usage of fertilizers mainly in 196 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:18,280 Speaker 4: Ivory Coast due to high fertilizer prices and also shortages 197 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:20,680 Speaker 4: due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. So you know, 198 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:23,520 Speaker 4: everything is linked. So some of it might be solved 199 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:25,960 Speaker 4: if we get better weather. I mean for next year, 200 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:28,600 Speaker 4: we should have laminar and not Alninius, so that should 201 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:31,720 Speaker 4: help at the margin, but we still have issued with 202 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:34,520 Speaker 4: climate change. We still have issues with black pot disease 203 00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:38,560 Speaker 4: and swollen three disease, and there's no indication that we 204 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:43,360 Speaker 4: get more usage of fertilizers in Ivory Coast because actually 205 00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:46,800 Speaker 4: the farmers are still getting relatively low prices and they're 206 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:49,840 Speaker 4: still struggling to make ensmit. So a lot of those 207 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:51,480 Speaker 4: supply issues are actually structural. 208 00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:55,640 Speaker 2: This was already a really fascinating answer in particular just 209 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:59,000 Speaker 2: all that point about how if a commodity just does 210 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:02,400 Speaker 2: not take up more much wallet share, then the then 211 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:04,240 Speaker 2: you know, yes it can go up, but you don't 212 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:06,440 Speaker 2: get that same sort of demand destruction as if it 213 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:09,520 Speaker 2: were really creating a big financial burden on the end consumers. 214 00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:13,520 Speaker 2: Something I'm curious about with Coco is, you know, when 215 00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:15,560 Speaker 2: I think of like oil, we are just like we're 216 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:19,520 Speaker 2: swimming in data about oil. There are multiple big, well 217 00:11:19,559 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 2: funded international statistical agencies of the track. You can get 218 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:27,600 Speaker 2: inventory data easily. There's OPEC, there's et cetera. With Coco, 219 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:30,040 Speaker 2: and I'm curious. You know you said your analysts brought 220 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:33,000 Speaker 2: it to your attention in January. In my mind, I 221 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:37,079 Speaker 2: imagine that there is less robust information and it's more scattered, 222 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:39,720 Speaker 2: et cetera. Maybe I'm wrong, but does that present more 223 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:44,520 Speaker 2: opportunities to identify moments where there's something going on in 224 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:47,120 Speaker 2: the market and traders and analysts aren't seeing it. 225 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:49,960 Speaker 4: You know, we managed to get in us a relevant 226 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:52,320 Speaker 4: data act. You need to understand what's happening. You have 227 00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:55,480 Speaker 4: some concertants that are specialized, and if we mount, the 228 00:11:55,559 --> 00:11:59,840 Speaker 4: have a team doing surveys of the main producing regions 229 00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:02,560 Speaker 4: to understand and then they work on their forecast on 230 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:05,480 Speaker 4: how much the same production will go. So actually you 231 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:08,079 Speaker 4: have some specialists, so actually we get enough data to 232 00:12:08,679 --> 00:12:09,520 Speaker 4: understand how. 233 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 2: So what did your analysts? What did your analysts see 234 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:14,880 Speaker 2: or how is your analyst able to see something in 235 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:18,600 Speaker 2: the supply and demand situation that he felt and you 236 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:22,680 Speaker 2: felt was not being identified by the analyst to cover 237 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:23,280 Speaker 2: this closely? 238 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:27,560 Speaker 4: I think it's mainly an understanding of how much prices 239 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:30,280 Speaker 4: have to move to balance the market. You know, people 240 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:33,560 Speaker 4: sometimes people can trade that market for like twenty years. 241 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:38,480 Speaker 4: They've been used to a range of prices and they believe, okay, 242 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:40,679 Speaker 4: the top of the range is a high price for apple, 243 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:43,840 Speaker 4: but they don't really ask themselves what makes that price right? 244 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:47,000 Speaker 4: And sometimes taking a step back can help. I mean, 245 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:50,080 Speaker 4: what makes the price is mainly the fact that in 246 00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:52,680 Speaker 4: the past you would have a supply repounce if prices 247 00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:55,160 Speaker 4: were going up. But if now you get you don't 248 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:58,240 Speaker 4: get the supply repons or the supply response takes four 249 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:01,160 Speaker 4: or five years, then you need to have a demand response. 250 00:13:01,640 --> 00:13:04,840 Speaker 4: And a lot of people look at prices in nominal terms. 251 00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:07,240 Speaker 4: So you hear people saying, oh, we're at all time 252 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:09,920 Speaker 4: high prices in coco, but that's because they look at 253 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:13,679 Speaker 4: prices in nominal terms. Previous high in nineteen seventy seven 254 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:18,200 Speaker 4: was five five hundred something dollars a ton of nineteen 255 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:21,480 Speaker 4: seventy seven dollars, which is equivalent to twenty eight thousand 256 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:23,880 Speaker 4: dollars a turn of two days dollars. So we're still 257 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:27,319 Speaker 4: very far from previous highs, and so you have to 258 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:30,320 Speaker 4: look at a bit more history and understand in the past, 259 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:34,080 Speaker 4: halgh prices reacted to a shortage, how long it took 260 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:38,520 Speaker 4: to recover to product shortage to actually solve itself, and 261 00:13:38,679 --> 00:13:42,280 Speaker 4: what's different today. So there's there's a ratio that we 262 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:46,000 Speaker 4: look at that most people look at. It's actually the 263 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:49,520 Speaker 4: inventory to grinding the ratio, So it's a measure of 264 00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:54,079 Speaker 4: inventory to demand. What we call grinding is basically industrial 265 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:56,559 Speaker 4: companies that take the coco bins and they want to 266 00:13:56,600 --> 00:13:59,480 Speaker 4: make chocolate with it. So it's a process and some 267 00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:02,920 Speaker 4: of them may the hand product chocolate tabacci. Some of 268 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:05,920 Speaker 4: them sell back the product to other chocolate makers, and 269 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:09,600 Speaker 4: so basically a typical grinder would take cocoa bins and 270 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:13,000 Speaker 4: make cocoa butter and powder with it, and the prices 271 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:15,400 Speaker 4: of both those elements also went up even more than 272 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:19,080 Speaker 4: cocoa bins, which means that actually we probably had some 273 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:21,240 Speaker 4: distalking everywhere on the. 274 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:23,200 Speaker 3: In the chain. 275 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:26,520 Speaker 4: So it looks like demand when we look at the 276 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:29,680 Speaker 4: chocolate makers, the hand demand for chocolate didn't go down 277 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:31,960 Speaker 4: at all. It looked to be flat on the year. 278 00:14:32,680 --> 00:14:35,440 Speaker 4: Grindings look to be down see three and a half 279 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:37,800 Speaker 4: percent this year. Despite the fact that the hand demand 280 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:40,480 Speaker 4: is the same in volume, which means that they've been 281 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:43,880 Speaker 4: distalking cocoa bins actually, and so we had like distalking 282 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:47,400 Speaker 4: everywhere at the hand chocolate level, at the cocoa bins, 283 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:51,160 Speaker 4: at the cocoa butter and cocoa powder level. So we 284 00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:53,720 Speaker 4: had this talking everywhere on the chain. And now we 285 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:58,360 Speaker 4: have the largest deficit ever on top of two previous 286 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:00,760 Speaker 4: years of deficit, and you look like next year we 287 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:03,640 Speaker 4: will have a deficit. So we're in a situation where 288 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:06,640 Speaker 4: we might actually run out of invantries completely. I mean, 289 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:09,479 Speaker 4: this year, we think we will end up with an 290 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:14,600 Speaker 4: inventory to grinding ratio, so inventry at the end of 291 00:15:14,640 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 4: the season of twenty one percent. For the last ten years, 292 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 4: we've been between thirty five and forty percent roughly. At 293 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:25,280 Speaker 4: the previous peak in nineteen seventy seven, we were at 294 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:27,920 Speaker 4: nineteen percent and that's what drove us to twenty eight 295 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:30,480 Speaker 4: thousand dollars a turn of two day's dollars. If we 296 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:33,040 Speaker 4: have another deficit next year, then we might go down 297 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:36,360 Speaker 4: to thirteen percent. So I don't think it's actually possible. 298 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:38,960 Speaker 4: That's when you will have real shortage of cocobine, you 299 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:42,160 Speaker 4: can't get it, and that's when the price can really explode. 300 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:45,680 Speaker 4: And so understanding that you have to slow down demand 301 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:47,880 Speaker 4: and we know that the demand can't will be slowed, 302 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 4: so that's when you can. 303 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:49,720 Speaker 3: Have an explosion. 304 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:52,920 Speaker 4: And remember that these commodity futures you need to have, 305 00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 4: they're actually physically settled, right, so if somebody wants to 306 00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:59,320 Speaker 4: take delivery, they have to converge with the price of 307 00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:01,600 Speaker 4: the physical. If you have no physical somebody wants to 308 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:04,640 Speaker 4: take delivery, the price can go anywhere. So it's a 309 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:08,160 Speaker 4: dangerous commodity too short, right, if you have no physical 310 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:11,400 Speaker 4: against it. And actually, you know, sometimes we with knew 311 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:14,680 Speaker 4: that the fonts have been pushing coco prices is actually 312 00:16:14,720 --> 00:16:18,880 Speaker 4: completely untrue because the farms have been selling since February. 313 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:23,080 Speaker 4: They actually went from a length of one hundred and 314 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:26,240 Speaker 4: seventy five thousand lots, so that's one point seventy five 315 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:30,400 Speaker 4: million tons of coco lands. I think it was around 316 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:35,600 Speaker 4: like September last year in average or orbitarlier to twenty 317 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:42,200 Speaker 4: eight thousand lost to eighty thousand tons at the moment, 318 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:46,120 Speaker 4: so they sold more than eighty percent of their lands actually, 319 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:49,040 Speaker 4: and the people who've been buying a future from the 320 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:52,400 Speaker 4: fonts its producers because they're producing a lot less than 321 00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:55,200 Speaker 4: they expected. So what has been happening in the cocoa 322 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:57,360 Speaker 4: market is that you had a reduction of what we 323 00:16:57,440 --> 00:17:00,320 Speaker 4: call the open interest, where both the longs we use 324 00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:02,760 Speaker 4: their lands and the shorts we use their shots. And 325 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:06,000 Speaker 4: then we get into a market where you have less 326 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,080 Speaker 4: liquidity because you have less exposure. 327 00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:10,800 Speaker 3: You have less longs and less less shorts, and then 328 00:17:10,840 --> 00:17:12,600 Speaker 3: the volatidity increases. 329 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:16,520 Speaker 4: So in the past, when when people were comfortable being 330 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:20,320 Speaker 4: let's say, having a one hundred loss position, now because 331 00:17:20,359 --> 00:17:23,119 Speaker 4: it moves more than ten times more than in the past, 332 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:25,359 Speaker 4: we're going to have like a ten lots position, right, 333 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:28,640 Speaker 4: So the market became more due to the fact that 334 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:32,360 Speaker 4: we had a massive move and we have a massive deficit, 335 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:36,600 Speaker 4: so everybody reducing their positions, and because of the increased volatility, 336 00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:40,000 Speaker 4: we have less less activity and that's what makes the 337 00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:40,920 Speaker 4: point more volatile. 338 00:17:40,960 --> 00:18:00,320 Speaker 1: That way, this is something I find fascinating. So the 339 00:18:00,359 --> 00:18:05,280 Speaker 1: way the financial markets sort of interact with the underlying 340 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:10,200 Speaker 1: real commodity and how that ends up influencing price. Given 341 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:13,399 Speaker 1: the dynamics that you just laid out, where because of 342 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:16,879 Speaker 1: you know, structural changes in the market, both in coco 343 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:19,520 Speaker 1: and then also in the way it's traded, This new 344 00:18:20,320 --> 00:18:25,800 Speaker 1: volatility making people maybe less inclined to short and leading 345 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:30,119 Speaker 1: to decrease trading volumes. Are you still long Coco in 346 00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:33,240 Speaker 1: this environment or have you, like a lot of other people, 347 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:34,440 Speaker 1: backed off at this point. 348 00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:37,080 Speaker 4: Well, you have to be careful about the sizing of 349 00:18:37,119 --> 00:18:40,679 Speaker 4: your position because it's something that is clearly less liquid 350 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:43,359 Speaker 4: than the commodities I'm used to, which are you know, 351 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:45,600 Speaker 4: for apple oil or natural gas. So it's a lot 352 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:48,040 Speaker 4: less liquid and in a market like that, it's a 353 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:48,920 Speaker 4: lot more volatile. 354 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:50,800 Speaker 3: Right. It's not always volatile. 355 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:53,280 Speaker 4: But when you have a large deficit and low inventory, 356 00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:55,679 Speaker 4: it moves a lot. So you have to calibrate your 357 00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:58,880 Speaker 4: position to be able to take a fifty percent move 358 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:00,320 Speaker 4: against you on the way right. 359 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:01,639 Speaker 3: So that's what you have to do. 360 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:03,600 Speaker 4: It doesn't mean that you have to be out completely, 361 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:07,119 Speaker 4: because I still think that there's more upside than downside. 362 00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:09,399 Speaker 4: I think we still have the potential to go above 363 00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:13,200 Speaker 4: twenty thousand dollars a turn later this year or next year, 364 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:16,040 Speaker 4: versus on the downside. Maybe we go from if you 365 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:19,040 Speaker 4: look at a December contract. It's at toughly seven thousand 366 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:21,520 Speaker 4: dollars a ton today, maybe we go back down to 367 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:24,560 Speaker 4: five thousand, right, so you have like a two thousand 368 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:30,080 Speaker 4: dollars turn downside versus thirteen to fifteen thousand dollars or 369 00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:33,360 Speaker 4: maybe more upside. So it's still worth having some lands, 370 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:36,080 Speaker 4: you know, in terms of probability. But now I mean 371 00:19:36,119 --> 00:19:38,360 Speaker 4: it could go down. The probablity that it goes back 372 00:19:38,359 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 4: down is not zero. But for that you need a 373 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:42,359 Speaker 4: lot of things need to go out. You need like 374 00:19:42,359 --> 00:19:45,560 Speaker 4: a bumper crop in West Africa next year, and it 375 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:48,840 Speaker 4: means you need to have the perfect weather in West 376 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:51,359 Speaker 4: Africa from now to the end of the year in 377 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,000 Speaker 4: order to have a really good cop for next year. 378 00:19:54,440 --> 00:19:57,440 Speaker 4: And it might happen, but it might not happen, right, 379 00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:00,000 Speaker 4: You need to get extremely lucky for that to happen. 380 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:04,440 Speaker 4: So I think the balance of probabilities are still that 381 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:06,919 Speaker 4: we will have a deficit next year on top of 382 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:10,480 Speaker 4: the very large deficit this year. We believe we have 383 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:14,720 Speaker 4: eight hundred thousand tons deficit out of five million ton 384 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:17,719 Speaker 4: market size, right, so it's a very large deficit. If 385 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:20,840 Speaker 4: we have the production going back up roughly ten percent 386 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:23,440 Speaker 4: from this year to next year, we still have a 387 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:26,160 Speaker 4: deficit of three hundred thousand turns or so next year. 388 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:30,760 Speaker 4: That brings us to thirteen percent stock to grinding ratio, 389 00:20:31,359 --> 00:20:33,720 Speaker 4: which which would be much lower than what we had 390 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:37,160 Speaker 4: in nineteen seventy seven. So we still have I think 391 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:41,440 Speaker 4: a high probability of having much much higher coco prices. 392 00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:43,399 Speaker 4: You know, even if they go there, we might have 393 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:45,919 Speaker 4: big drops like we've seen the last months or so 394 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:49,440 Speaker 4: the last two weeks, but we might make new hide 395 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:51,320 Speaker 4: and then have big drops again and then make new 396 00:20:51,359 --> 00:20:54,720 Speaker 4: heihs or if over the next four months we realize 397 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:57,600 Speaker 4: that we're going to have from all the surveys we 398 00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:01,399 Speaker 4: get every months in Ivory Coast and Ghana that the 399 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:04,440 Speaker 4: crop next will be amazing, then the policies we'd probably 400 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:07,159 Speaker 4: come off from here towards you know, I don't know, 401 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:09,639 Speaker 4: five or six thousand dollars a turn, but they're not 402 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,280 Speaker 4: going to go back down right away to two thousand, 403 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:14,920 Speaker 4: five hundred dollars a ton because we need We have 404 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:19,080 Speaker 4: very low inventories, so we need to rebuild stocks everywhere 405 00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:20,520 Speaker 4: in the supply chain. 406 00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:24,600 Speaker 2: These inventories. So you've been talking about the stock inventory, 407 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:27,920 Speaker 2: the grinding ratio or the stocks to grinding ratio within 408 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:31,360 Speaker 2: the sort of cocoa or chocolate supply chain. Who are 409 00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:34,680 Speaker 2: the holders of the stocks and how do you get there? 410 00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:36,200 Speaker 2: Like how is that data collected? 411 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:39,520 Speaker 4: So basically you have the exchange. So first you have 412 00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:44,359 Speaker 4: exchange stocks, so we have weekly data in European exchanges 413 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:47,560 Speaker 4: and the US exchanges. So in the US NAPPLE everything's 414 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:51,520 Speaker 4: held on exchange pretty much, so everything in exchange. In 415 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:55,960 Speaker 4: Europe only twenty percent of the the inventories on exchange. 416 00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:58,960 Speaker 4: Twenty percent of the European stocks are on exchange. The 417 00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:03,600 Speaker 4: others are really with with chocolate makers or that they 418 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,119 Speaker 4: need to hold stocks directly to make the chocolate. And 419 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:09,640 Speaker 4: then you have then you have some also obviously at 420 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:13,440 Speaker 4: the producing regions. So and that's something that we can 421 00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:18,680 Speaker 4: see the inventories at the port in Ivory Coast and Ghana, 422 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:22,119 Speaker 4: so the main exporters. You can actually follow the amount 423 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:24,880 Speaker 4: in inventory there and then the West. What we don't 424 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:28,000 Speaker 4: know is inferred statistically, right, so there's a bit of 425 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:31,560 Speaker 4: noise in what that that total amount of inventory would be. 426 00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:34,480 Speaker 4: But you have some some firm that has specialized in 427 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:37,000 Speaker 4: it that will come up with an estimate of the number, 428 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:40,400 Speaker 4: So they'll they'll do some surveys, they'll they'll, they'll they'll 429 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:43,359 Speaker 4: do some cost validation to make sure that the numbers 430 00:22:43,359 --> 00:22:44,080 Speaker 4: at are at the end. 431 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:48,119 Speaker 1: Out of curiosity and just widening this out to a 432 00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:52,199 Speaker 1: few other commodities, have you observed any similar dynamics in 433 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:54,960 Speaker 1: something like coffee, which has been getting a lot of 434 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:58,720 Speaker 1: attention recently, or orange juice. I ran into some guy 435 00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:01,520 Speaker 1: called Mortimer who was telling me that Brazil is supposed 436 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:03,000 Speaker 1: to have a bad harvest this year. 437 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:04,600 Speaker 3: That's possible. 438 00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:07,880 Speaker 4: I haven't followed orange juice. I mean, we looked at 439 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:12,520 Speaker 4: coffee quickly. It looked less. It looked interesting as well, 440 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:16,760 Speaker 4: because you get big losses in production from Vietnam. But 441 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:20,280 Speaker 4: we didn't look We didn't see from far something that 442 00:23:20,359 --> 00:23:21,840 Speaker 4: was so exciting, so we didn't try it. 443 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:23,320 Speaker 3: Orange juice, we haven't. 444 00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:26,080 Speaker 4: I don't know, but I would say that generally the 445 00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:29,800 Speaker 4: shift in weather patterns due to climate change are going 446 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:36,040 Speaker 4: to bring some structural stories into soft commodities, and so we'll. 447 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:37,959 Speaker 3: Have to look. 448 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:39,920 Speaker 4: At more and more of the soft commodities because it's 449 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:41,639 Speaker 4: not only going to be from one year to another. 450 00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:44,480 Speaker 4: You're going to have like that everything could change due 451 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:45,760 Speaker 4: to random change in weather. 452 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:48,480 Speaker 3: You have this underlying climate change that. 453 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:51,920 Speaker 4: It's also a trend that really impact production of the time, 454 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:55,400 Speaker 4: and so we have to identify the communities that will 455 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:56,560 Speaker 4: be impacted by that. 456 00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:00,800 Speaker 2: Tell to us a little bit more about Obviously we've 457 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,240 Speaker 2: had you on in the past primarily talk about oil 458 00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:06,040 Speaker 2: and as you mentioned in the beginning, entering and you're 459 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:08,080 Speaker 2: not you don't trade egg as much. There's sort of 460 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:11,159 Speaker 2: a different space for you other than the size of 461 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:13,320 Speaker 2: the market. And I guess you know, as you mentioned, 462 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:17,880 Speaker 2: it's all physical delivery futures. What are the other dynamics 463 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:21,359 Speaker 2: that are different when you go from trading a commodity 464 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:24,800 Speaker 2: like oil, which is gigantic and liquid, to a commodity 465 00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:25,400 Speaker 2: like cocoa. 466 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:28,639 Speaker 4: Well, you have to follow the I mean cocoa I 467 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:33,240 Speaker 4: think is less complicated than the grains because in the grains, 468 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:37,800 Speaker 4: your weather can impact productions so quickly. But sus for cocoa, 469 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:41,320 Speaker 4: it does impact production, but it takes you five years 470 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:44,280 Speaker 4: to you know, when you plant a cocoa tree for 471 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:46,880 Speaker 4: I mean three to five years for that coco tree 472 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:48,919 Speaker 4: to give you cocoa beans. This is for grains, you 473 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:51,119 Speaker 4: get it right away, so you get like a slower 474 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:54,120 Speaker 4: production responsor. It should be when you have a big 475 00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:57,920 Speaker 4: supply issue and that you have issues due to climate change, 476 00:24:58,040 --> 00:24:59,560 Speaker 4: you should have like a. 477 00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:01,560 Speaker 3: Large move than four coins. 478 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:06,000 Speaker 4: So it should make it easier in a way to 479 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:08,760 Speaker 4: have a positions that you can hold for longer that 480 00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:10,399 Speaker 4: are a bit more structural. 481 00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:14,119 Speaker 3: Than four coins. I would say that's my understanding at 482 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:16,600 Speaker 3: least for now. And there's enough data too. 483 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:19,200 Speaker 4: I mean enough data meaning like if we we get 484 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:23,040 Speaker 4: like a bit more more data on how the new 485 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:26,359 Speaker 4: crops are doing many many in iboricos and cana to 486 00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:30,800 Speaker 4: have a good understanding of what the crop will be, 487 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:34,399 Speaker 4: the production will be the following year. So I feel 488 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:38,479 Speaker 4: like we have enough data to understand in which direction 489 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:41,600 Speaker 4: we're going. Versus the grains, I feel like the grains 490 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:43,000 Speaker 4: can they move up and down a lot? 491 00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:45,080 Speaker 3: Then you can't. It's more complicated. 492 00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:47,800 Speaker 4: You have to look at a lot of like tiny 493 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:52,920 Speaker 4: details versus coco where you have many one mega major 494 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:55,320 Speaker 4: producer and another very large one. 495 00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:58,000 Speaker 1: Speaking of climate change, can we talk a little bit 496 00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:01,480 Speaker 1: about copper, because this is all so a commodity where 497 00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:03,440 Speaker 1: I feel like there was a lot of discussion about 498 00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:07,840 Speaker 1: it being in structural short supply as the world moves 499 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:11,600 Speaker 1: towards electrification. But then over the past couple of years 500 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:15,359 Speaker 1: prices went down, I guess because of concerns over the 501 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:20,040 Speaker 1: outlook for economic growth, and just relatively recently so starting 502 00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:23,600 Speaker 1: sort of February of this year, prices are going up again. 503 00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:27,200 Speaker 1: What's your thesis when it comes to copper. 504 00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:30,000 Speaker 4: I think coppers should go up a lot Bleakly. We 505 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:34,679 Speaker 4: are going from biky Over the last let's say fifteen 506 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:38,000 Speaker 4: twenty years, we were in a market where demand was 507 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:42,280 Speaker 4: going about half a million turn a year and supply 508 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:44,640 Speaker 4: was going half a million ton a year in average. Right, 509 00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:47,280 Speaker 4: if you look at long term averages, it was over 510 00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:50,160 Speaker 4: time a balance market. We had times where it was tight, 511 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:52,600 Speaker 4: times where it was in a bit of a surplus, 512 00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:56,080 Speaker 4: many during the pandemic or during financial crisis, but overall 513 00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:59,520 Speaker 4: it was a balance market. Now, due to the energy transition, 514 00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:03,639 Speaker 4: we're obviously as we have to electrify the world, we 515 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:09,080 Speaker 4: have new demand from electrification of transport, so it means 516 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:14,760 Speaker 4: that not only to make the electric vehicles, but also 517 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:17,160 Speaker 4: to supply more electricity. 518 00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:18,920 Speaker 3: Overall in the world. 519 00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:21,600 Speaker 4: For that energy transition, so you have to work on 520 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:25,240 Speaker 4: the grid to have more renewable and renewables take a 521 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:28,800 Speaker 4: lot more copper than like nuclear plants or like fossil 522 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:34,479 Speaker 4: fuel generated electricity, so like solar panels and windmills take 523 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:37,440 Speaker 4: a lot more copper. And also all the data centers 524 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 4: take a lot of copper. So we have that third 525 00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:41,879 Speaker 4: in power demand that we need a lot of copper. 526 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:44,760 Speaker 4: And we're getting into a market where despite the fact 527 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:47,680 Speaker 4: that the Chinese property market will be much weaker than 528 00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:51,119 Speaker 4: the last fifteen years in terms of growth, and we're 529 00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:54,359 Speaker 4: seeing decline in the property in the copper demand in 530 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:58,399 Speaker 4: China for the fourthingble future, despite that, we see a 531 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:02,560 Speaker 4: market in which we're have overall one million tons of 532 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:07,439 Speaker 4: demand perier roughly of demand increased per year, and the 533 00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:10,480 Speaker 4: supply goes basically by the end of next year will 534 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:13,360 Speaker 4: be zero to negative. So we think that in terms 535 00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:17,080 Speaker 4: of mining supply, we're picking in about a year like 536 00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:18,360 Speaker 4: twelve to eighteen. 537 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:20,920 Speaker 3: Months, and then we flatten and then we go down. 538 00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:24,720 Speaker 4: So best case scenario, you get like a million tons 539 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:29,520 Speaker 4: increasing demand against no increasing supply, so you get larger 540 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:33,200 Speaker 4: and larger deficit deficit every year and the price hasn't 541 00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:36,359 Speaker 4: reacted yet, and that's mainly because I think there's not 542 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:41,840 Speaker 4: enough fonts at the or companies that actually trade the 543 00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:44,720 Speaker 4: future's market and all positions for very long. I mean, 544 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:46,840 Speaker 4: if you look at most of the hedgephones out there, 545 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:49,120 Speaker 4: it's a bunch of leg pots that have. 546 00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:51,120 Speaker 3: Very many, many. 547 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:54,880 Speaker 4: Teams in those big multi strategy fonts that have very 548 00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:57,440 Speaker 4: tight drawdowns, so they tend to try to trade for 549 00:28:57,480 --> 00:28:59,440 Speaker 4: the next few days or next week or so. They 550 00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:02,400 Speaker 4: count really positions for very long, and there's not a 551 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,240 Speaker 4: lot of companies that can hold positions, so because the 552 00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:08,400 Speaker 4: market is not really doing its job to actually give 553 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:11,760 Speaker 4: a price signal to solve that deficit, that upcoming deficit, 554 00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:14,440 Speaker 4: that's a multi year deficit. Basically, it takes, you know, 555 00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:17,160 Speaker 4: to grow supply in copper. I mean, if you bring 556 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:19,560 Speaker 4: a new mind, is like more than ten years to 557 00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:21,400 Speaker 4: bring its like ten to fifteen years to bring a 558 00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:21,800 Speaker 4: new mind. 559 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:25,080 Speaker 3: And everything has been relatively well explored. 560 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:27,720 Speaker 4: So now the supply growth from copper is coming from 561 00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:30,200 Speaker 4: more and more dangerous countries as well, like less and 562 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:33,720 Speaker 4: less stable countries, So you don't get that quick supply 563 00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:37,800 Speaker 4: response in copper, but the demand is now and the 564 00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:39,520 Speaker 4: demand is growing. I mean, we're going to build that 565 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:42,880 Speaker 4: electric grid, and we're going to build all these EVAs 566 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:46,400 Speaker 4: and also that data center. They're going to be built 567 00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:49,239 Speaker 4: at whatever the cost of copper. And remember that the 568 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:52,520 Speaker 4: price of copper is a very small percentage of the 569 00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:55,720 Speaker 4: price of the end product, right, So if copper goes 570 00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:57,640 Speaker 4: up ten times, I mean your m product will go 571 00:29:57,720 --> 00:29:59,680 Speaker 4: up a little bit. It's not good to double in price. 572 00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:03,960 Speaker 4: So if you need to have a demand response, mainly 573 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:07,760 Speaker 4: when the world is kind of obligated to go through 574 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:12,320 Speaker 4: that through that energy position, then we should get to 575 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:14,120 Speaker 4: really really large price move. 576 00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:17,800 Speaker 3: So I think there's a long long way to go 577 00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:18,320 Speaker 3: for copper. 578 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:21,400 Speaker 2: I'm interested in this because you know, we have seen 579 00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:23,720 Speaker 2: this bit of a copper rally, though we're not even 580 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:26,320 Speaker 2: I don't even think we're quite at the twenty twenty 581 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:29,080 Speaker 2: one highs. But it's interesting. I'd love to hear you 582 00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:35,160 Speaker 2: explain further about the connection between Okay, any any fool 583 00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:37,920 Speaker 2: can look at supply and demand and say, there's this 584 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:41,520 Speaker 2: much demand for copper out there, there's this much supply 585 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:44,960 Speaker 2: coming online, there's going to be a deficit. That seems bullish, 586 00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:48,680 Speaker 2: how do you take that analysis and or take that 587 00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:51,600 Speaker 2: starting premise and then think about what does a fair 588 00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:54,760 Speaker 2: price look like? And so as opposed to just saying yeah, 589 00:30:54,840 --> 00:30:56,520 Speaker 2: this is there's more demand that supply. How do you 590 00:30:56,560 --> 00:30:58,720 Speaker 2: get to like a number that in your view or 591 00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:01,800 Speaker 2: in your analyst view, looks like a number that might 592 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:03,720 Speaker 2: bring supply and demand into balance. 593 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:06,440 Speaker 4: I mean it's going to be you know, I don't 594 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:08,240 Speaker 4: think it's just a price. It's like the whole path 595 00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:12,000 Speaker 4: is important, I think. So we look at it year 596 00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:15,480 Speaker 4: by yea, so we think, okay, at current prices, what 597 00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:18,120 Speaker 4: would be the supply and demand balance to current prices 598 00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:20,120 Speaker 4: have an impact on demand goes or not? Or what 599 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:23,760 Speaker 4: is the state of the global economy. What kind of 600 00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:26,400 Speaker 4: you know, demand goes do we expect for copper and 601 00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:27,480 Speaker 4: what is the supply goes? 602 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:28,720 Speaker 3: I mean, supply goes. 603 00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:32,560 Speaker 4: Is not going to be too dependent on copper prices 604 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:35,600 Speaker 4: for the first few years. I mean a little bit 605 00:31:35,720 --> 00:31:38,760 Speaker 4: to scrap. You get a bit more crap scrap metals 606 00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:41,320 Speaker 4: when prices go up, so you can model for that. 607 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:44,600 Speaker 4: When prices go up, you get more crap supply that 608 00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:47,280 Speaker 4: that comes as a source of supply for copper. 609 00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:48,600 Speaker 3: And then the demand. 610 00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:50,440 Speaker 4: We look at, okay, what can be priced and city 611 00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:52,720 Speaker 4: what can be pushed too later or not? It's not 612 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:54,760 Speaker 4: that much to be honest, And then we get to 613 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:58,360 Speaker 4: a path for the demand. And then we look at, okay, 614 00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:01,440 Speaker 4: what is what do we think the supplant demand balance. 615 00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:02,840 Speaker 3: Look looks like every year. 616 00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:05,120 Speaker 4: So for Apple this year, at current pri set, we 617 00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:07,840 Speaker 4: think we're going to get about like four hundred to 618 00:32:07,840 --> 00:32:11,600 Speaker 4: five hundred thousand tons deficit, and we had less than 619 00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:13,840 Speaker 4: that in terms of visible stocks at the beginning of 620 00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:16,280 Speaker 4: the year, so it means that we could actually run 621 00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:18,760 Speaker 4: out of visible inventories by the end. 622 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:19,160 Speaker 3: Of the year. 623 00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:23,640 Speaker 4: Now there is some extra inventories, mainly the strategic reserve, 624 00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:26,960 Speaker 4: what we call the SRB in China, but if they 625 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:28,680 Speaker 4: know that we're going to we're at the beginning of 626 00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:30,640 Speaker 4: a multi year deficit, they're not going to sell their 627 00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:33,320 Speaker 4: strategy reserve in the first year. So then we look 628 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:35,240 Speaker 4: at the following year. We think for next year, we 629 00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:38,360 Speaker 4: also have half a million ton deficit, and actually we 630 00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:40,680 Speaker 4: can't cover that with a level of inventory, so we 631 00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:43,960 Speaker 4: need and then assuming we had enough inventory, we go 632 00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:48,760 Speaker 4: to in twenty twenty six to invent like deficit that 633 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:50,920 Speaker 4: are more than a million tons and eventually more than 634 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:54,120 Speaker 4: three million tons in twenty thirty, and that obviously those 635 00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:57,560 Speaker 4: deficits accumulate and we don't have enough inventries to actually 636 00:32:57,800 --> 00:32:59,160 Speaker 4: you know, go through. 637 00:32:59,000 --> 00:32:59,560 Speaker 3: The first year. 638 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:02,120 Speaker 4: So it means that we're going to have really large 639 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:05,440 Speaker 4: pricing is sooner than later to slow demand, and I 640 00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:08,920 Speaker 4: don't know how much it would have to go by. Yeah, 641 00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:12,080 Speaker 4: So basically on copper, what I mean that we're going 642 00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:15,720 Speaker 4: to have to have nonel in our move sooner than 643 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:19,239 Speaker 4: later because of the large deficit we think we're going 644 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:21,040 Speaker 4: to have this year and if not this year, next year, 645 00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:24,520 Speaker 4: and we don't have enough inventories to meet that deficit. 646 00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:28,560 Speaker 4: So we need to slow down demand relatively fast. And 647 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:31,960 Speaker 4: we think that demand is also very in elastic due 648 00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:34,560 Speaker 4: to the fact that the price of copper as a 649 00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:37,560 Speaker 4: percentage of the end product is very low, and we 650 00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:40,880 Speaker 4: need to go through the energy transition regardless of the 651 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:44,120 Speaker 4: price almost so I think that's why prices can move 652 00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:46,200 Speaker 4: a lot for copper. So at the end, like we 653 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:48,000 Speaker 4: don't know exactly how high they can go to we 654 00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:50,760 Speaker 4: go to I think they could go up four times 655 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:55,040 Speaker 4: over five year five year horizon. But does it mean 656 00:33:55,080 --> 00:33:57,760 Speaker 4: that we go up from ten thousand to fifteen thousand 657 00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:00,040 Speaker 4: this year and then twenty two thousand next year. I 658 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:02,680 Speaker 4: don't know, but I think that the kind of twice 659 00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:05,960 Speaker 4: moves that I'm expecting, you know, like this that multiple 660 00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:08,800 Speaker 4: in twice, not to twenty percent increase. The twenty percent 661 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:11,960 Speaker 4: increase doesn't change anything to your suppreme demand balance on 662 00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:13,600 Speaker 4: a two to three highs. 663 00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:33,680 Speaker 1: So Joe asked you how you come up with the 664 00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:36,959 Speaker 1: price thesis for something like copper and how you see 665 00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:40,920 Speaker 1: it play out. And you know, we're mostly focusing on 666 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:43,880 Speaker 1: time scales there, but there was one commodity that I 667 00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:47,600 Speaker 1: wanted to ask you a similar question on which is oil. 668 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:50,960 Speaker 1: And oil it feels to me is facing a very 669 00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:55,439 Speaker 1: uncertain year in many respects. We have the upcoming US 670 00:34:55,560 --> 00:35:00,239 Speaker 1: presidential election, and it feels like things could go in 671 00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:05,399 Speaker 1: very different paths depending on whether Trump or Biden get 672 00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:08,960 Speaker 1: the presidency. Not necessarily in terms of US oil production, 673 00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:11,840 Speaker 1: which is already quite high and I think has surprised 674 00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:15,440 Speaker 1: a number of people, including possibly yourself, but maybe in 675 00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:19,200 Speaker 1: terms of things like the response from OPEC or what 676 00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:23,279 Speaker 1: happens with Russia Ukraine can you walk us through how 677 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:26,720 Speaker 1: you in such an uncertain moment, how you even begin 678 00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:30,040 Speaker 1: to come up with a short term thesis for the 679 00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:31,719 Speaker 1: price of oil over the next year or so. 680 00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:35,760 Speaker 4: Yeah, So when you look at all the potential supply 681 00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:38,839 Speaker 4: disruption that we could have had at the end of thing, 682 00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:41,200 Speaker 4: we didn't get any supply disruption. So if you look 683 00:35:41,239 --> 00:35:44,160 Speaker 4: at in twenty twenty to twenty twenty three, we're all 684 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:46,480 Speaker 4: expecting to see at least some decline in the Russian 685 00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:51,160 Speaker 4: production due to sanctions, so due to issue within Russia, 686 00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:55,279 Speaker 4: and at the end, there was no supply responsor at all. 687 00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:56,560 Speaker 3: I mean, there was no subplate disuption. 688 00:35:57,239 --> 00:35:59,920 Speaker 4: Last year in twenty twenty three, we've got to sell 689 00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:03,040 Speaker 4: in Iranian exports due to the fact that the sanctions 690 00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:05,640 Speaker 4: on Iran were not really. 691 00:36:05,719 --> 00:36:08,719 Speaker 3: Enforced, I would say. 692 00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:10,319 Speaker 4: So we had relative to expectations, we ended up having 693 00:36:11,239 --> 00:36:14,200 Speaker 4: like a lot more Russian production and Iranian production. And 694 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:18,800 Speaker 4: also last year US supply grew up more than expected 695 00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:21,520 Speaker 4: for the beginning of the month of the year. So 696 00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:24,239 Speaker 4: for the last four months, for five months four months, 697 00:36:24,239 --> 00:36:27,839 Speaker 4: I would say US production has been disappointing. So it's 698 00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:29,840 Speaker 4: been a bit lower than people expected. And that the 699 00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:32,799 Speaker 4: first time in a long time. Obviously, four months is 700 00:36:32,840 --> 00:36:36,000 Speaker 4: not enough to grow a trend, but it's something to 701 00:36:36,120 --> 00:36:39,520 Speaker 4: watch out for. I mean, is US shel production about 702 00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:40,440 Speaker 4: to peak or not. 703 00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:41,879 Speaker 3: We don't know. We'll only know it. 704 00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:44,440 Speaker 4: After the fact, But so far it looks like US 705 00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:48,279 Speaker 4: production is actually not growing too much, I mean, or 706 00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:50,759 Speaker 4: at least over the last four months. With the tensions 707 00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:54,040 Speaker 4: in the Middle East. In terms of what scenario we 708 00:36:54,080 --> 00:36:56,960 Speaker 4: could have to really lose supply, I would say it's 709 00:36:56,960 --> 00:37:02,239 Speaker 4: only if we get an attack on Iranian oil facilities, 710 00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:05,200 Speaker 4: but I don't think the US would want that, so 711 00:37:05,239 --> 00:37:07,880 Speaker 4: I don't think Israel would do it, because if they 712 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:09,920 Speaker 4: were to do it, then the Uranians would probably try 713 00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:12,520 Speaker 4: to blow at the Saudi facilities or close the straight 714 00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:13,560 Speaker 4: of Hormoved and then we. 715 00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:15,640 Speaker 3: Get into really huge toppled disruption. 716 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:20,560 Speaker 4: But it's a low probability event, right, It's very unlikely, 717 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:23,960 Speaker 4: but it's not impossible. But if the conflict stays between 718 00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:26,080 Speaker 4: Israel and Gaza, I mean, there's no oil there, it 719 00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:28,920 Speaker 4: has no impact at all all supply. So where we 720 00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:34,000 Speaker 4: could have supply disruptions is coming from the Ukrainian attacks 721 00:37:34,040 --> 00:37:37,360 Speaker 4: on Russian oil infrastructure, and when you look at what 722 00:37:37,400 --> 00:37:39,920 Speaker 4: they've been doing for the last six months, they have 723 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:44,800 Speaker 4: many attacks Russian behind with and that's really to try 724 00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:47,200 Speaker 4: to hurt the war reforts in Russia in the SPS, 725 00:37:47,239 --> 00:37:50,480 Speaker 4: not actually with it so much financially, it's more for 726 00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:53,560 Speaker 4: them to not have the white amount of fuel to 727 00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:56,200 Speaker 4: make enough rockets and all that, and for the Russian 728 00:37:56,480 --> 00:37:59,640 Speaker 4: people to feel like they're also there's something going on, 729 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:02,560 Speaker 4: and it's not just in a sub a whyland, But 730 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:06,239 Speaker 4: the Ukrainioans have not attacked pipelines and ports yet. I 731 00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:10,000 Speaker 4: think if they really wanted to impact the revenues of Russia, 732 00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:14,600 Speaker 4: they should attack the ports and the pipelines, bringing Frudel 733 00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:17,080 Speaker 4: to the port and keep on blowing up pipeline and 734 00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:20,160 Speaker 4: then that would really have a big impact in the 735 00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:22,520 Speaker 4: revenue that Russia would get. But that would also have 736 00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:24,839 Speaker 4: an impact on all places. And the US don't want 737 00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:27,120 Speaker 4: to have millions in an election year. They don't want 738 00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:31,000 Speaker 4: to have the Biden adiministration is very very paranoid about 739 00:38:31,040 --> 00:38:35,280 Speaker 4: having high gasoline prices before the election. So they're putting 740 00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:38,919 Speaker 4: pressure on the Ukrainians to not attacks, to not attack ports. 741 00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:41,320 Speaker 4: But if we get into a situation where the Ukrainians 742 00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:44,320 Speaker 4: become more desperate I need. 743 00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:45,840 Speaker 3: More help than they might attack ports. 744 00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:48,960 Speaker 4: So that's where we could potentially have supplied disruptions. 745 00:38:49,239 --> 00:38:51,399 Speaker 3: In terms of yes, sorry, I just. 746 00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:54,520 Speaker 2: Real quickly, how much do you think that pressure from 747 00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:59,080 Speaker 2: the ADMIN not to attack oil infrastructure is hampering the 748 00:38:59,160 --> 00:38:59,840 Speaker 2: war effort for you? 749 00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:00,160 Speaker 3: Right? 750 00:39:01,040 --> 00:39:02,480 Speaker 4: Well, at the end of the day, like if that 751 00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:04,560 Speaker 4: no help from the US, they would attack the old 752 00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:07,400 Speaker 4: facilities in Russia. But the fact that depending on US 753 00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:10,960 Speaker 4: weapons obviously they have to, right, you know, to listen 754 00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:12,719 Speaker 4: to what the US say. I mean as far as 755 00:39:12,719 --> 00:39:15,040 Speaker 4: they're helping. If the US stop helping, then of course 756 00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:17,160 Speaker 4: they will they will go. They will go for the 757 00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:17,880 Speaker 4: old facilities. 758 00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:18,200 Speaker 3: I think. 759 00:39:20,080 --> 00:39:22,959 Speaker 4: And in terms of the elections, you're asking, like Trump 760 00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:26,080 Speaker 4: versus Biden, does it change anything for oil? I mean, 761 00:39:26,120 --> 00:39:29,200 Speaker 4: I think it's quite marginal or nothing, I would say 762 00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:33,120 Speaker 4: for US supply because despite all the talks, US productions 763 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:36,680 Speaker 4: searched under Biden, So I don't think that Trump would 764 00:39:36,719 --> 00:39:38,680 Speaker 4: make it search more. I mean, it's just a question 765 00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:42,439 Speaker 4: of geology and money. Actually, more than anything, I think 766 00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:45,520 Speaker 4: we can't be too far from peak in US productions. 767 00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:48,719 Speaker 3: So you know, I don't think the. 768 00:39:48,320 --> 00:39:50,920 Speaker 4: US supply grows as the potential of many millions of 769 00:39:50,960 --> 00:39:54,799 Speaker 4: barrels the extra So I think I think it's quite 770 00:39:54,840 --> 00:39:57,880 Speaker 4: marginal for US production. But where there could be a 771 00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:01,160 Speaker 4: bit of an impact for oil would I would expect 772 00:40:01,160 --> 00:40:05,240 Speaker 4: Trump to and force the sanctions on Iran more Titi, 773 00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:08,239 Speaker 4: so we might lose some oil from Iran, and that's 774 00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:11,120 Speaker 4: but again that we probably get a bit more oil 775 00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:12,120 Speaker 4: from the Saudist So. 776 00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:13,439 Speaker 3: I'm not sure. I don't think. 777 00:40:13,719 --> 00:40:16,680 Speaker 4: I don't think Trump versus Biden have a big impact 778 00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:17,760 Speaker 4: on oil prices. 779 00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:20,759 Speaker 1: All right, Well, Pierre, we're going to leave it there. 780 00:40:20,840 --> 00:40:22,840 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for coming back on all lots 781 00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:26,879 Speaker 1: and walking us through all these various soft commodities and 782 00:40:26,880 --> 00:40:30,640 Speaker 1: oil as well. Really appreciate you coming back on pleasure. 783 00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:32,320 Speaker 3: Thanks very much, thanksolling you opportunity. 784 00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:47,240 Speaker 2: Thank you Joe. 785 00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:51,600 Speaker 1: That was super interesting. I really liked hearing someone's conception 786 00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:55,560 Speaker 1: of the cocoa market when they haven't necessarily been in 787 00:40:55,600 --> 00:40:59,480 Speaker 1: it that much, and like how they formed that thesis 788 00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:02,840 Speaker 1: and decided to actually put on the trade totally. 789 00:41:02,920 --> 00:41:05,239 Speaker 2: I thought that was fascinating. I mean just hearing him 790 00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:08,120 Speaker 2: like walk through all of the different factors, whether it's 791 00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:10,960 Speaker 2: climate change, whether the two diseases. 792 00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:14,640 Speaker 1: Fertilizer was one that I hadn't heard that much about. 793 00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:17,120 Speaker 2: Before totally, but makes total sense. Like when you think 794 00:41:17,120 --> 00:41:19,120 Speaker 2: about it, and when he brings it up, some of 795 00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:21,719 Speaker 2: the metrics he looks at. I'm also interested in just 796 00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:24,719 Speaker 2: this point, which is obvious, but I hadn't really thought 797 00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:27,520 Speaker 2: about it, that you could have a quadrupling in the 798 00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:31,120 Speaker 2: price of cocoa, and even if that translates into a 799 00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:34,080 Speaker 2: quadrupling of the price of a cocoa bar or a 800 00:41:34,160 --> 00:41:36,960 Speaker 2: chuckolate bar that you buy that in a commodity that 801 00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:40,160 Speaker 2: ultimately is just not that big of a monthly expense 802 00:41:40,239 --> 00:41:42,960 Speaker 2: or weekly expense for people, you might not get much 803 00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:46,040 Speaker 2: of a demand response. If you had a quadrupling of 804 00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:48,719 Speaker 2: the gasoline prices, you might expect carpooling or people to 805 00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:52,160 Speaker 2: take less trips or you know whatever, or subway rides. 806 00:41:52,640 --> 00:41:55,080 Speaker 2: You're just not going to get that same effect the market. 807 00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:55,520 Speaker 3: That's small. 808 00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:57,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, and it was kind of interesting to hear a 809 00:41:57,520 --> 00:42:00,000 Speaker 1: similar dynamic in copper as well. 810 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:00,200 Speaker 3: Well. 811 00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:01,960 Speaker 1: The one other thing I was thinking about, just to 812 00:42:02,040 --> 00:42:06,239 Speaker 1: push the an inelasticity point a little bit more, I 813 00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:10,040 Speaker 1: wonder sometimes if all the headlines about cocoa prices going up, 814 00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:13,279 Speaker 1: if everyone rushes out to buy chocolate in the same 815 00:42:13,320 --> 00:42:15,600 Speaker 1: way I do, maybe you get like even a bit 816 00:42:15,640 --> 00:42:18,359 Speaker 1: of a demand boost in those scenarios. 817 00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:20,239 Speaker 2: Or a bullwhip, right, because then everyone buys it, and 818 00:42:20,280 --> 00:42:23,760 Speaker 2: then they're pulling demand from the future. And also whatever 819 00:42:23,840 --> 00:42:26,759 Speaker 2: you have in your pantry, Tracy, is probably you know, 820 00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:30,759 Speaker 2: it's it's hidden inventory, right, Like the statistical agencies can't 821 00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:33,880 Speaker 2: see into that, so then there's more cut. Who knows 822 00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:35,799 Speaker 2: whether that's an but it is a It is an 823 00:42:35,800 --> 00:42:36,520 Speaker 2: interesting question. 824 00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:39,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, no one knows about my strategic chocolate reserve, Tracy. 825 00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:42,000 Speaker 2: And I never tell you about the time that I 826 00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:44,440 Speaker 2: was at the top of the Patronas towers in a 827 00:42:44,560 --> 00:42:46,880 Speaker 2: nightclub and I talked to a palm oil magnate. 828 00:42:47,080 --> 00:42:49,720 Speaker 1: Yes, yes, you have in Malaysia, right, yeah. 829 00:42:49,560 --> 00:42:50,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, Malaysia. 830 00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:50,560 Speaker 3: Yeah. 831 00:42:50,640 --> 00:42:52,439 Speaker 2: But it was It's interesting too because he was talking 832 00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:55,359 Speaker 2: about the fact that, like palm oil is a tree 833 00:42:55,400 --> 00:42:59,040 Speaker 2: based commodity, obviously, and he was describing very different market 834 00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:02,000 Speaker 2: dynamics versus a field based crop, in which a field 835 00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:04,040 Speaker 2: based crop you just have one person on a tractor, 836 00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:07,960 Speaker 2: are combine to the whole field, the labor intensivity, the 837 00:43:08,040 --> 00:43:11,240 Speaker 2: difficulty of automation when it comes to a tree based 838 00:43:11,239 --> 00:43:15,320 Speaker 2: commodity versus field based commodity. There aren't many robots that 839 00:43:15,640 --> 00:43:18,239 Speaker 2: can climb trees yet as far as I know. So 840 00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:20,600 Speaker 2: it's interesting think about the market structure of some of 841 00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:23,840 Speaker 2: these different commodities and how different they are just depending 842 00:43:23,840 --> 00:43:26,799 Speaker 2: on the growing conditions, how labor intensive, how prone they 843 00:43:26,800 --> 00:43:28,960 Speaker 2: are to automation scale, et cetera. 844 00:43:29,080 --> 00:43:29,600 Speaker 3: Things like that. 845 00:43:29,680 --> 00:43:31,480 Speaker 1: We should have asked Pierre about palm oil. 846 00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:32,719 Speaker 2: We'll have to have them back for that. 847 00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:34,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, shall we leave it there. 848 00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:34,879 Speaker 2: Let's leave it there. 849 00:43:35,040 --> 00:43:38,200 Speaker 1: This has been another episode of the Oudlots podcast. I'm 850 00:43:38,239 --> 00:43:41,280 Speaker 1: Tracy Alloway. You can follow me at Tracy Alloway. 851 00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:43,520 Speaker 2: And I'm Jill Wisenthal. You can follow me at the Stalwart. 852 00:43:43,680 --> 00:43:46,720 Speaker 2: Follow our guest Pierre on Durant. He's at on Duran Pierre. 853 00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:50,200 Speaker 2: Follow our producers Kerman Rodriguez at Kerman Ermann dash Ol 854 00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:53,560 Speaker 2: Bennett at Dashbot, and Kilbrooks at Kilbrooks. Thank you to 855 00:43:53,600 --> 00:43:56,680 Speaker 2: our producer Moses on Them. For more Oddlots content, go 856 00:43:56,719 --> 00:43:58,840 Speaker 2: to Bloomberg dot com slash odd Lots, where we have 857 00:43:58,920 --> 00:44:01,960 Speaker 2: transcripts of lag and a newsletter, and you can chat 858 00:44:02,000 --> 00:44:04,040 Speaker 2: about all of these topics twenty four to seven in 859 00:44:04,120 --> 00:44:08,400 Speaker 2: the discord with fellow listeners Discord dot gg, slash outlock. 860 00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:10,759 Speaker 1: And if you enjoy Odd Lots, if you like it 861 00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:13,560 Speaker 1: when we do deep dives into the price of Coco 862 00:44:13,719 --> 00:44:15,839 Speaker 1: and the way the market works, then please leave us 863 00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:19,800 Speaker 1: a positive review on your favorite podcast platform. And remember, 864 00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:22,480 Speaker 1: if you are a Bloomberg subscriber, you can listen to 865 00:44:22,560 --> 00:44:25,759 Speaker 1: all of our episodes absolutely ad free. All you need 866 00:44:25,800 --> 00:44:28,839 Speaker 1: to do is find the Bloomberg channel on Apple Podcasts 867 00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:31,560 Speaker 1: and it will allow you to connect your Bloomberg account 868 00:44:32,160 --> 00:44:34,719 Speaker 1: with the platform and you'll get to listen to us 869 00:44:34,760 --> 00:44:36,800 Speaker 1: without ads. Thanks for listening. 870 00:45:00,640 --> 00:45:00,680 Speaker 3: No