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May 2022 Commodity Musings
What’s the point of a tambourine? To me It’s one of those musical instruments that doesn’t appear to add much to a song other than give the singer something to do with their hands as they roam the stage. But, even that’s probably better than a triangle! A triangle, to me seems to be pretty pointless apart from being used as an offensive weapon. I don’t believe anyone has joined a band looking to play “lead triangle”? Hope I don’t get cancelled for this by any triangle societies out there…. This leads me nicely into a rant on pointless documents in contracts: I’m sure we all understand why Bills of Lading, Certificates of Origin and inspection certificates are required to move commodities around but why do some traders ask for Packing Lists when product moves in bulk? And then, ask for that document to be issued in one original AND endless copies? Then we have (shall we say) less experienced banks getting involved in financing traders and insisting on a requirement for Bills of Exchange, payable at sight under LC's and Bills for Collection where the Bills just sit in a file and get lost in the archives over time. Ok I understand, certain countries have certain rules here and it’s just the way it is (possibly the worst reason for justifying anything but that’s a whole subject on its own…) but, surely as we eventually move to electronic documents, we could have some quick wins and remove superfluous documentation now? Discovered a new band last month- Lo Moon – kind of American indie with a War on Drugs vibe-saw them at a small venue in London on the off chance after checking them out on Spotify and they were absolutely excellent- worth a look. I’m surprised I’m not seeing more barter deals at the moment. Historically, conflict and high commodity prices leads to an upswing or maybe all the people doing it are to busy playing with their tambourines and triangles to talk to me about it? Who knows? At least the media (in the UK anyway) appears to have got over their obsession with Covid, having a war to write about, a dose of inflation and a new obsession with cake and parties. Maybe all politicians should be obliged to attend a “party awareness course” similar to first speeding offenses? Travel wise, with a few notable exceptions the world is opening up which should make life a lot easier to go and physically meet interesting people in interesting places. Zoom and Teams calls serve a purpose but too many people need to learn that listening is a better skill than talking too much and dominating a call whilst talking crap. Looking forward again to the certain joy I get wandering around storage tanks, warehouses and understanding the commodity back story. I’ll leave you with the multi-interpretational thoughts of Pink Floyd “Brain Damage” “And if the band you’re in start playing different tunes, I’ll see you on the Dark Side of the Moon”
Trading Environment Update
Trading environment update
March 2022 Commodity Musings
Ice Cream Vans are cool. When I was growing up, the melodic chimes of that van coming into your road led to a rush of kids running “pied piper like” towards it for the latest sickly, sugar heavy vanilla cornet, preferably with sprinkles. If it was a Sunday we may have been able to afford to have a flake added as well. Maybe this was an early indication of the fragmentation in our society between the have and have nots, or maybe not... What was the point of the additions? Just a reason to add another couple of pennies to the price at substantially less than the actual cost of the extra ingredients. And so began my introduction to the concept of adding value. We see this all the time in commodities. The conversion of raw materials to final products for consumption with the addition of “magic ingredients”, processes and time/effort/logistics etc... How do you put a value to this process and are some producers and traders making excessive monies out of these transformations as is suggested by the media? As always, the market decides what may be excessive giving buyers/consumers the option to switch allegiance if the price isn’t right. As my old Economics teacher Mr Gaskell used to say to every question I asked him “It’s all about supply and demand dear boy”. My first job in the banking world was checking documents in the LC department, probably not the most exciting job but an excellent grounding in the commodity world and a stepping stone to other things. I was a big fan of the sanctity of a LC as an irrevocable guarantee of payment subject to confirming documents. Now however, Banks are using LCs as a means of non-payment by finding a “discrepancy” and using it as a pretext for avoiding their payment obligation because their customer has disappeared, lacks funds, or has gone bust, is very frustrating. It’s an act of bad faith and inherently responsible for destroying some of my younger dreams. Could this possibly lead to LCs no longer being the go-to security instrument? Methinks that’s an ongoing discussion for next month. At a press conference in 1986 Ronald Reagan said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”. Thirty-six years on this is truer than ever. The lack of trust individuals and corporates have in Government(s) and authority today is at an all-time high with the MSM helping to fan the flames by constant rumour, speculation, and opinion. How do we combat this? Do your own research, have a mind of your own, and be prepared to challenge any fact quoted to you. The truth is harder to find than a pint under £4 in the City. In these troubled times I’ll leave you with the profound thoughts of Martin Fry and ABC “Can’t complain, mustn’t grumble, help yourself to another piece of apple crumble”.
Kimura puts the importance of people and sustainable business practices at the heart of its business
Kimura puts the importance of people and sustainable business practices at the heart of its business today and into the future through the application of ESG principles. Learn more about our Environmental, Social & Governance Principles on our website: https://lnkd.in/edGXguwQ
Meet Kristofer, founder and CEO of Kimura
Meet Kristofer, founder and CEO of Kimura.
Trading environment Update
Trading environment update
About Kimura Capital LLP
Kimura Capital LLP is a regulated asset management firm headquartered in London, with offices and personnel in 15 countries across the globe. Learn more from our company video and visit our website: https://www.kimuractf.com/
January 2022 Commodity Musings
Happy New Year commodity peoples of the world!
Tarran Mackenzie is set to defend his title in 2022
Kimura are excited to announce that the 2021 British Superbike Champion Tarran Mackenzie is set to defend his title in 2022 with continued support from Kimura.
Website Launch
Take a look at our recently updated website created by Digital Pie . Investment, asset management and credit for the commodity markets digitally presented in a modern and user friendly fashion.
December 2021 Commodity Musings
I don't like politicians. Their total inability to answer the question posed to them is frustrating, along with the current obsession with the Big State having a lot of control over people's lives in terms of restrictions imposed. What happened to the concept of empowering the population to make their own decisions? Isn't that the way you learn to take responsibility for your actions? Cause and effect and all that. ...
A viewpoint from the COO
A View from the COO: Individual responsibility in a transitioning world.
October 2021 Commodity Musings
I like dictionaries. Call me old fashioned but I still use my “Collins English Gem Dictionary” (1960 reprint). I know that with two clicks of a mouse you can find anything online but the tactile joy of thumbing through a dog-eared dictionary and discovering words like sphagnum and megatherdum by accident and learning 1 myriagram equals 1.5747 stone is not to be underestimated. If we wait long enough all words come back into fashion and maybe, we can stop our over reliance on jargon.
September 2021 Commodity Musings
I've always been a fan of the concept of alternative realities, parallel universes and, time travel since an early age. This was probably fed by my reading diet of Superman, Batman and X-Men comics in the 1960's. They tended to send my imagination and dreams into overload, an early indicator of the sleepless nights that would be coming to me over the next 40 years. The first time I saw The Wizard of Oz I didn't understand the surrealism of it, but in later years the vividness of the colours alone were enough to send my head spinning.
August 2021 Commodity Musings
I like trees. I always have done, ever since I was a kid. They always seemed to induce that feel-good factor when you were surrounded by them as opposed to the concrete jungles that many cities are these days, with just continual building onwards and upwards.
Kimura Capital set to launch African focused Commodity Trade Finance Fund (Dhow)
London-based Kimura Capital is set to launch an African focused Commodity Trade Finance Fund that will comprise loans backed by physical commodity assets.
Kimura announces partnership with currency overlay manager
London based commodity trade finance manager Kimura Capital LLP (Kimura) has announced the appointment of Tactical Global Management (TGM) to oversee and execute the currency hedging component of its commingled funds.
June 2021 Commodity Musings
When I'm sitting in the shed late at night, I often end up in a musical, Google wormhole fuelled by a diet of Jaffa Cakes and Rooibos tea listening to old rock music. Hence, when Rise by Public Image Limited from 1986 came on the radio, the words, "anger is an energy", sung by the Sex Pistol's John Lydon, jumped out at me (later the title of his autobiography that's well worth a read btw) which pretty much tells it like it is.
The Commodity World in Crisis?
“….And the beat goes on” was a song by The Whispers from the late 70s when I first got involved in the wonderful world of commodities and you know what, 40+years later it pretty much describes where we are today raw materials are still dug up, crops are still grown and harvested, transportation and logistics move it from its place of origin via intrinsic supply chains to the ultimate consumers, (that’s us by the way) who create the demand in the first place.
Kimura Capital Sponsors British Superbike Championship Hopeful Tarran Mackenzie for the 2021 Season
Kimura Capital has added team McAMS Yamaha rider, Tarran Mackenzie (25), to its portfolio of sponsored athletes for the 2021 British Superbikes (BSB) season.