Hi! Partners of the Global Village!

There’s this One Planet Earth, but within this celestial Global Village, there are many worlds that we live in and these worlds are constantly being impacted and changed by known and unknown forces, both.

Some of the many worlds that we live in include the world of food agriculture, the world of industrial metals and precious metals and stones, the world of energy – conventional, renewable, solar, wind, thermal, etc. These are impacted by yet another set of worlds – the world of climate, the seasons, the weather …. All these worlds are constantly changing – and the we the humans collectively are the main actor that are both the causer of the change as also the ones that are impacted by the constant changes witnessed in these worlds.

Well, on these pages I’ll try to give glimpses of this fascinating world of commodities arena that comprise almost 75 per cent of the global trade, the rest comprises of services. Therefore, it is the world of finance, investments, takeovers, tax-sleuths, currencies, jehadis, and some more.

So, ever thought how our lives are being changed – sometimes beyond our comprehension – also by the fast changing world of commodities? And commodities are both tangible and ethereal, in that there are those commodities that we can touch, feel, smell and enjoy, others like climate, weather … we know it’s there all around us like omnipresent God and feel its changing impact, sometime it can be even fearsome like  Tandava the fearsome dance of Shiva’, the God of Dances …. like the devastating, Katrinas, Ritas, and other such hurricanes.

So, as we begin our journey into the fascinating world of commodities, what we see in India is that the first shower of rains in this year’s monsoon seasons has wreaked havoc in Rajasthan – a rather dry state that had barely received rains in the recent past. This year’s rains have been the severest such that one of the overflowing dams has been broken that has severely impacted the lives of people in over 30 villages around that dam.

And in the trillion dollar India, majority of the Indians are celebrating – though surprisingly mutely – the selection of the famous Taj Mahal in the latest list of the Seven Wonders of the World declared yesterday!! Would you not question why are we mutely celebrating while we also say those two words – Wah! Taj – made famous by one of the leading tea companies that has one of its innumerable tea varieties branded as best as The Taj!!

In Mumbai, India’s financial capital, the rains have been flooding the increasing menace of the potholes that the civic and state administration says people will have to live with for over next few years! Imagine, if this is the state of affairs in the country’s financial capital where millions of rupees of state funds are being spent without any respite to vehicle owners, what would it be in other states?

Yes, we all agree that the state administration anywhere in the w orld is never efficient. Or else, can anyone explain why did Lee Iacocca had to write Where Have All the Leaders Gone? A book filled with his outrage Lee Iacocca is said to be back to sound a howl of anger against the sad state of leadership in the U.S. today. Along the way, Iacocca rails against the lack of leadership in vital national concerns such as health care, open markets and energy policy.

Well, the months of June-July are usually known as the monsoon season and also as the hurricane season, that is feared once again to possibly wreak another round of trouble, if not havoc in and around the world’s most consumerist – and deeply indebted – country, the USA. The once mighty US greenback has been weakening and is feared to slide further. Players in the world of global finance are trying to find a better hedge other than gold and silver that can also help them to tide over the consequences of the continued slide in the value of the US dollar.

And China, the economic juggernaut, is almost prepared for the launch of this millennium’s first Olympic mega event  Beijing 2008 August 8-28, 2007. Now that a large requirement of almost all commodities ahead of this mega event is met, the overall demand for commodities in general from China is seen to be slower than in the past few years that had fuelled the commodity prices all over. This too therefore, would impact the prices of commodities. How? We will try and weigh.

Amidst all this, India, yet another economic giant in the making, would take up the challenge that it has been facing from the sliding US greenback, soft landing of the overheated Chinese economy, and of course the jehadi troubles in neighboring Pakistan.

 Till recently, the worlds of equity, currency and precious stones and metals market were said to be the favorite of the law and sanctions busters. Now it is the commodities that is witnessing commodity “trade-based money laundering” activities that is alleged to be supporting the jehadis who like the wrath of the gods may unleash yet another round of terror. And London has recently witnessed this. Any doubts, the commodities too are shaping our worlds? 

Stay tuned, and your comments are always welcome.