Topics / Forgotten Fortunes
Commodities & Trade Finance
Grain corners, bullion flows, oil shocks, and the resource supply chains and trade finance networks that power global commerce.
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The 1996 Sumitomo $2.6B Copper Scandal and Japan’s Post-2011 LNG Import Shock
A hidden copper-trading position caused huge losses at Sumitomo in the 1990s. After Fukushima, Japan faced a very different commodity shock as energy imports…
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China’s Commodity Supercycle, the 2005 Copper Squeeze, and the 2014 Qingdao Fraud
China’s commodity boom changed global metals markets. Copper trading losses and the Qingdao warehouse-financing scandal showed how physical goods could underpin risky credit structures.
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Satavahana Deccan Economy: Grain, Metals, and Monastic Finance (c. 100 BCE–150 CE)
Across the Deccan plateau, the Satavahana dynasty integrated rural grain production, base-metal coinage, Indo-Roman trade routes, merchant guild banks, and tax-exempt Buddhist monastic land…
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From State Socialism to the Eurozone: Bulgaria’s Commodity Trade and Governance (1990–2025)
How Bulgaria transformed from 1990s security-linked conglomerates and the 1997 hyperinflation crisis into an EU refining and non-ferrous metals hub—while recurring conflicts over state…
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How WTI Crude Oil Futures Plunged Below Zero in April 2020
On April 20, 2020, expiring May NYMEX WTI crude oil futures plunged 306% to settle at -$37.63 per barrel as pandemic demand collapse and…
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How the Hunt Brothers Cornered the Silver Market and Triggered Silver Thursday (1980)
After Libya nationalized their Sarir oilfield in 1973, Texas billionaires Nelson Bunker and William Herbert Hunt amassed over 100 million ounces of silver and…
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Mr. Five Percent: How Sumitomo’s Hidden Copper Trades Cost $2.6 Billion
In June 1996 Sumitomo Corporation revealed that its star copper trader, Yasuo Hamanaka, had traded without authorization for a decade. The losses reached US$2.6…
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Oil Above $100: The Hidden Weakness in the Global Oil System
Oil above $100 is only the visible warning. From the 1973 embargo to the 2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis, discover how shrinking energy reserves…
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The Oil Supply Shock Behind $100 Crude: Why the World’s Energy Safety Margin Is Shrinking
Oil above $100 is only part of the danger. From the 1973 embargo to the 2026 crisis, the deeper risk lies in depleted reserves,…
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When Protection Becomes Retaliation: The History of Trade Wars
A tariff meant to protect domestic jobs can provoke costly foreign retaliation. From Smoot-Hawley to the Chicken War, discover how trade conflicts spread and…
