Objectives of the service
Supply & demand fundamentals are crucial for the evolution of commodity prices. The correlation is obvious, and some data are available. Yet, overall, figures about flows and inventories remain unstructured, fragmented, unaudited, and accessible at a random frequency. Earthcube is the first company to deliver the 1st large-scale dry bulk supply chain monitoring service to reveal hidden patterns and enable better informed trading decisions In order to do so, Earthcube leverages its computer vision, data mining and satellite images processing proprietary expertise.
Users and their needs
Fundamental analysis is key for hard commodity traders and speculators. Their assessment on both macro-economic figures for key countries and more specific local activity drives their financial decisions. The reliability and frequency of such data is key, yet remains unsatisfactory and pretty archaic:
- Local agent networks often constitute the only and unverifiable sources of information
- Public data can be scarce
Earthcube provides them with the integrated monitoring service they need to optimize their decision-making process.
Global market, with a strong presence especially in the UK, Switzerland, the US and Singapore.
Service/ system concept
Earthcube has developed a proprietary base of sites of observables relevant for a global monitoring of the supply chain.
Earthcube works with global satellite image suppliers to acquire frequent images of key locations of the global hard commodities supply chain. These images are then processed and analysed thanks to proprietary Machine Learning processes to extract key features. The latter are then shared with its clients to optimize their investment decisions.
Space Added Value
Earthcube’s technology relies on Earth Observation. Indeed, EO technologies have two major advantages:
- No more frontiers: satellites give access to any relevant locations for the supply chain, breaking free from the need to use local informants
- Traceability and reliability of homogeneous data
Current Status
The technical validity of the project has been proven through multiple tests of Earthcube’s proprietary algorithms. The commercial development is starting with a selection of early adopters.
