“ We ’ re also looking to drive a lot of automation and to improve our range of data sources , including satellite analytics ”
— Will Blake , Director of Technology & Analytics , CRU Group
working in January , we were better placed to plan for any potential disruption . On 23 March we moved the whole global business – around 300 people – to home working and it ’ s worked remarkably well . Our cloud strategy proved to be very resilient and was a key enabler in allowing business to carry on effectively .”
The company has also been engaged in dedicated COVID-19 analysis to better understand how the virus is impacting commodities . “ Disruption to supply chains has been significant ,” Will states , “ as well as short-term demand reduction . Alongside this , we ’ ve been tracking operational status of mines , smelters and refineries with our dedicated disruption tracker service , which has been embedded in our existing products . Our economics team has been closely analysing the impact of this disruption on global GDP and other economic indicators as our outlook shifts from what ’ s happening now to what the future looks like for our customers .”
As to that future , Will describes a rapidly changing market that is showing the first signs of stability . Forecasting , he notes , always has a degree of flexibility , but CRU is experiencing commodities customers seeking answers to longer term questions , which demonstrates the response to COVID shifting from a survival mentality to one of strategically planning for the future .
DID YOU KNOW ?
• CRU sets and publishes over 500 commodity prices each week
• CRU has 300 employees spread over 8 offices on 5 continents
• CRU analyses over 40 different commodities
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