International Trade and Investing

It is useful to develop "long view" before investing - to identify long-term trends which influence national economies and the prospects of individual companies.

A recent addition to my reading list is resourcetrade.earth, a site which is maintained by Chatham House, one of my go-to sources of information for "the global view".  You can read about resourcetrade.com here: https://resourcetrade.earth/about#section-5

Resourcetrade.com says of itself:

The volume of natural resources traded globally has increased over 60% since the turn of the century, reflecting and reinforcing new economic and geopolitical realities and bringing new environmental and social challenges – as well as opportunities. Now everyone can explore these fast-evolving dynamics through Chatham House’s comprehensive and accessible data and insights into resource trade.

Via an interactive section of the site, you can explore trade patterns for various commodities, including: export/import sources, destinations, values and volumes; environmental impacts associated with various commodities; national indicators of the importance of exports/imports to national economies; and, other indicators of a country's performance.  It is revealing.  If anything, it effectively demonstrate the interconnectedness of world trade.  

Another feature of the site is its "Stories" section which features insightful articles on resource exploitation and trade.  An inaugural article entitled, Food security, trade and its impacts, introduces the topic with the following paragraph:

Our globalised agricultural system provides cheaper food for all at the same time as it allows countries with a significant agricultural economy to benefit from exports. An outbreak of protectionism affecting the key food commodities – or fertilizers – could lead to price shocks, ecological damage, and the undermining of food security for some of the most vulnerable populations.

This perked my interest.  The article is supported by extensive footnotes for those wishing to pursue the matter in greater depth.  As always, I am on the hunt for investments which could benefit from higher order long-term trends.  These tailwinds, coupled by companies with able management, good financials and products tailored to provide future benefits have the potential to reward investors richly.