The next great commodities race isn’t about oil. It’s about copper, cobalt, nickel, lithium, and rare earths — the metals and critical minerals that underpin the global energy transition.
A quiet but decisive shift is underway as the world’s largest trading houses pivot toward the resources that will power electrification, renewable energy, and advanced technologies. This is more than a market trend. It’s a geopolitical realignment.
For over a century, oil has shaped the world’s power dynamics. Control over production and supply routes determined alliances, foreign policy, and, often, the fate of nations.
But as the global economy accelerates toward decarbonization, those old levers of power are giving way to new ones. Critical minerals are fast becoming the strategic assets of the 21st century. They are finite, geographically concentrated, and technically difficult to substitute. And China, through years of strategic investment, has built a commanding lead in their mining and processing.
Washington has woken up to the risks of this dependence. The U.S. has formally declared critical minerals a national security priority, deploying executive powers and financing to secure alternative sources.
Africa — home to nearly a third of global reserves — has emerged as a focal point for this effort.
Governments aren’t the only ones mobilizing. Commodity traders, long accustomed to thriving in volatile markets, are moving aggressively to position themselves at the heart of this new resource race.
Few moves are as emblematic as Vitol’s. After more than a decade away from metals, the world’s largest independent energy trader has rebuilt its metals desk, hiring seasoned talent to take positions in copper, nickel, and aluminum.
Chief Executive Russell Hardy has been clear: While oil remains the company’s backbone, metals are essential for capturing opportunities tied to decarbonization and for understanding the broader industrial economy. Vitol’s pivot isn’t a hedge — it’s a statement about where the future lies.
Gunvor, another Swiss-headquartered heavyweight, is pursuing a complementary strategy. Known for its oil dominance, the company has expanded from derivatives into physical gold and silver trading, setting up teams in London and Singapore to manage the entire value chain from concentrates to refined bars.
Gold prices have nearly doubled since 2022, and investor appetite remains strong. Gunvor’s longstanding sourcing relationships in Africa are now being leveraged to secure a profitable foothold in precious metals.
While gold and silver aren’t technically “critical minerals,” the expansion reflects a broader shift: Traders are redeploying their networks wherever market margins and geopolitical leverage intersect.
BGN International, a lesser-known but increasingly ambitious player, offers perhaps the clearest example of how commodity traders are adapting to this new era.
Traditionally focused on energy and petrochemicals, BGN has made a series of moves that signal a deliberate and well-financed pivot toward metals and critical minerals.
In September, the company announced the launch of a Geneva-based metals trading desk, accompanied by a new Asia hub in Singapore led by former Squarepoint trader Daniel Yu. This expansion places BGN squarely in the competition for base metals and battery materials — resources that will drive the next phase of industrial growth.
Just weeks earlier, BGN’s U.S. arm signed a landmark agreement with the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Centre for Expertise, Evaluation and Certification to establish a digital commodity center.
The initiative is designed to give international buyers transparent, traceable access to DRC minerals — long a region of both extraordinary opportunity and profound governance challenges.
By operating through an American-domiciled structure, BGN is positioning itself as a trusted counterparty for Western markets seeking alternatives to Chinese-dominated supply chains.
BGN has also been quietly strengthening its operational backbone. In Dubai, where the company maintains a regional presence through BGN INT DMCC, it has been expanding trading capacity and poaching senior talent from major firms such as Gunvor and LITASCO to build out its Geneva and Gulf teams.
And in parallel, it has continued to invest in logistics. Earlier this year, BGN signed a 10-year LPG charter agreement through a joint venture with Al Seer Marine, adding dual-fuel Very Large Gas Carriers to its fleet.
These vessels, while tied to its legacy energy business, give BGN critical control over shipping routes — an often overlooked but essential component of mineral supply chain security.
These private-sector moves have major geopolitical implications. China’s dominance over mineral refining has created a choke point with far-reaching consequences.
By building alternative supply chains and trading hubs under Western legal and financial frameworks, companies like Vitol, Gunvor, and BGN are doing more than seeking profit — they’re helping to redraw the map of global influence.
In BGN’s case, the combination of commercial ambition, strategic geography, and partnerships in Africa suggests a bid to become a serious mid-tier player in the critical minerals space — one capable of operating between state power and market demand.
The challenges are real. Political instability in mining regions, the enormous capital required for processing infrastructure, and the complexities of building transparent supply chains all pose significant risks.
But the incentives are stronger. Industrial demand is rising, mineral prices are trending upward, and policy environments are increasingly favorable. Trading houses that once built fortunes on hydrocarbons now see metals and minerals as the future core of their business.
A new commodities era is clearly taking shape. From Geneva to Houston to Dubai to Singapore, the world’s most powerful trading firms are repositioning themselves around the materials that will drive electrification and technological progress.
The race is on — not just for market share, but for geopolitical positioning. In the 20th century, oil was power. In the 21st, it will be minerals.
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