Review of "The World for Sale"
Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources, by Javier Blas and others.
A B C D. Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, Cargill, (Louis) Dreyfus. These are the famous grain commodity traders. If you extend this to hard commodities, you get Phillips Brothers, The Marc Rich Company, Trafigura, Vitol, Gunvor, Transworld, amongst others. These firms have had a huge impact on geopolitics for a large chunk of the 20th and 21st Centuries (so far).
This book focuses mainly on oil. It is the biggest commodity of all, and it is the stuff that is produced by places like Iran and Russia, which have a complicated relationship with the West. The various dislocations of supply and (to a less extent) demand for oil has allowed the small group of men who run these firms to become fabulously rich. The book is excellent at explaining the global backdrop which has created, occasionally, opportunities for stupendous profits for firms that can buy, sell, store, transport and change the apparent origin of oil. These firms have dealt with the most murderous and corrupt regimes on the planet. The book suggests that, on rare occasions, in the distant past, they may have varied normal western business practice in order to source supplies from regimes which are not on the most friendly terms with the US, but is at pains to point out that such act ivies now are very much a thing of the past.
For some reason, I enjoy reading about this stuff. Most of these firms are privately held. Glencore is an exception, although it only emerged into the sunlight of public company disclosure fairly recently (in 2011, I think). The book reveals that some old timers there would have preferred that the IPO had never happened.
Anyway, the book kept me gripped. There was a nice balance of personal detail and geopolitical analysis to keep me turning the pages. Blas is an interesting character. You might want to follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JavierBlas.
I put this on goodreads.com, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52199304-the-world-for-sale" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1616664353l/52199304._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52199304-the-world-for-sale">The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6333911.Javier_Blas">Javier Blas</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6100941615">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
A B C D. Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, Cargill, (Louis) Dreyfus. These are the famous grain commodity traders. If you extend this to hard commodities, you get Phillips Brothers, The Marc Rich Company, Trafigura, Vitol, Gunvor, Transworld, amongst others. These firms have had a huge impact on geopolitics for a large chunk of the 20th and 21st Centuries (so far). <br /><br />This book focuses mainly on oil. It is the biggest commodity of all, and it is the stuff that is produced by places like Iran and Russia, which have a complicated relationship with the West. The various dislocations of supply and (to a less extent) demand for oil has allowed the small group of men who run these firms to become fabulously rich. The book is excellent at explaining the global backdrop which has created, occasionally, opportunities for stupendous profits for firms that can buy, sell, store, transport and change the apparent origin of oil. These firms have dealt with the most murderous and corrupt regimes on the planet. The book suggests that, on rare occasions, in the distant past, they may have varied normal western business practice in order to source supplies from regimes which are not on the most friendly terms with the US, but is at pains to point out that such act ivies now are very much a thing of the past. <br /><br />For some reason, I enjoy reading about this stuff. Most of these firms are privately held. Glencore is an exception, although it only emerged into the sunlight of public company disclosure fairly recently (in 2011, I think). The book reveals that some old timers there would have preferred that the IPO had never happened. <br /><br />Anyway, the book kept me gripped. There was a nice balance of personal detail and geopolitical analysis to keep me turning the pages. Blas is an interesting character. You might want to follow him on Twitter at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://twitter.com/JavierBlas">https://twitter.com/JavierBlas</a>.
<br/><br/>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/30000791-stephen-hemingway">View all my reviews</a>.
This was one of my favorite books from the past few years. Some truly remarkable stories in there.