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Industry · Commodity trading

AI for Commodity Traders & Sourcing Brokers

AI for commodity traders checks every new supplier offer against every active buyer request the moment it arrives, and the other way round. Matches are ranked, your team and both parties are told, and each one is tracked to a closed deal. AI also checks offered prices against the market and rates demand for each commodity.

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Offers matched to requests, requests to offers
Two-way
Expired offers and filled requirements left out
Active only
Supplier offersBuyer requestsWhatsApp enquiriesMatches rankedParties introducedDeals closedYour commoditydatabase

Who is it for?

  • Commodity traders
  • Import and export houses
  • B2B sourcing agents and brokers
  • Agricultural and metals trading desks
  • Wholesale intermediaries

A trading business earns its margin by connecting the right buyer with the right supplier, at the right price, before someone else does.

Where do commodity traders lose time and money?

Commodity traders lose deals they already had both sides of. Requests arrive by phone, email and WhatsApp, supplier offers sit in spreadsheets, and the match that would have closed is missed because nobody had both lists open at once. Introductions wait days, expired offers are still being chased, and prices are judged by feel.

  1. Matches found by memory

    A new offer arrives and someone scrolls through old requests, if they remember one exists.

  2. Scattered records

    Companies, contacts, offers and requests in different spreadsheets, inboxes and chats.

  3. Expired offers still in play

    Suppliers who've stopped supplying and buyers whose requirement is filled still get contacted.

  4. Slow introductions

    Matches wait days for follow-up, and the deal goes to a faster broker.

  5. Prices judged by feel

    Nobody quickly checks whether an offered price is above or below the market.

  6. No view of what's working

    Which commodities trade most, which deals stall and which partners close are anyone's guess.

Systems for commodity trading

How can AI automations help commodity traders?

AI automations put commodities, companies, contacts, supplier listings and buyer requests into one linked database, then match every new entry against the other side straight away. AI ranks the best fits on quantity, budget and timing, creates a match record, notifies your team and both parties, and tracks each match from pending to deal closed.

AI automations
Every offer checked against every request
  • One structured database. Commodities organised by industry, category and subcategory, each with its own code. Every company marked buyer, supplier or both.
  • Standard offers and requests. Commodity, quantity, price per unit or budget, timing, and an Active, Expired or Closed status.
  • Two-way matching. Only active entries are matched, so expired offers and filled requirements are left out.
  • Same-day introductions. Each match assigned to a team member with an AI-written note on who matched and why. Parties can be told automatically.
  • Deal pipeline and dashboard. Pending, Reviewed, Parties introduced, Deal closed, with a timeline of how long each deal took and the most traded commodities by share and volume.
  • Price and demand insight. Each listing checked against the market price, demand rated high, moderate or low, and a short trend analysis per commodity, from your data alone or with live web research.

How can an AI chat agent help commodity traders?

An AI chat agent captures buyer requests and supplier offers on your website or social channels and writes them straight into your database in the standard format, so they're matched like any other entry. Enquiries that used to sit in a WhatsApp thread become structured records the moment they arrive.

AI chat agents
No request left in a chat thread
  • Request and offer capture. Commodity, quantity, price or budget, and timing, collected in conversation.
  • Straight into matching. Every captured entry triggers the same two-way match.

Which jobs can AI take on for commodity traders?

AI can take on the matching and tracking work around trading: checking offers against requests, ranking fits, introducing parties, tracking deals, comparing prices with the market and capturing enquiries from every channel. Negotiation and the relationship stay with your traders. Each job below links to the use case or business area it's built on.

What you call it · What the AI does · Use case
What you call itWhat the AI doesUse case
Matching buyers and sellersMatches every new offer or request against the other sideMatchmaking
Market price comparisonChecks offered prices against the marketAI valuation
Deal flowTracks each match from pending to deal closedSales
Requests by WhatsApp or websiteCaptures and logs every request in a standard formatLead capture & routing
Commodity cataloguePuts commodities, companies and contacts in one databaseTech

How would we build it for you?

We haven't published a commodity trading case study yet. What we do have is a demo we built.

A demo we built: matching and deal tracking system

We built a buyer and supplier matching and deal tracking system in Airtable and Make.com for a commodity trading business. It has a linked commodity catalogue, two-way AI matching, team and party notifications, a deal pipeline and timeline, a deal dashboard, and AI market price and demand analysis. It's a test build, not live client work, and it's where we'd start yours.
  1. 01

    Structure your catalogue

    We set up your commodities, units and codes, and migrate your existing companies, offers and requests from spreadsheets.
  2. 02

    Agree the matching rules

    What counts as a fit on quantity, budget and timing, who gets notified, and whether parties are emailed automatically.
  3. 03

    Choose your price sources

    Price checks and demand ratings can run on your internal data only, or with live web research as well.
  4. 04

    Test and launch

    We test on real offers and requests before go-live. Automations come with a 2-week warranty.

Commodity trading terms, explained

Term · Meaning
TermMeaning
FCOFull corporate offer: a supplier's formal offer setting out product, quantity, price and terms
LOILetter of intent: a buyer's written statement of intent to buy on stated terms
OfferA supplier's listing of available stock
RequirementA buyer's request for a commodity, quantity and timing
SpreadThe difference between the buying and selling price, where the margin sits
Price per unitThe price for one unit of the commodity, such as a tonne
Demand levelHow actively a commodity is being requested: high, moderate or low

Frequently asked questions

Questions

Answer

Can AI match buyer requests to supplier offers automatically?

Yes. Every new supplier listing triggers a search of active buy requests for that commodity, and every new request triggers a search of active listings. AI ranks the best fits on quantity, budget and timing, and each becomes a match record linking both sides. Your team is notified straight away, and both parties can be told too. See matchmaking.

Stop missing the matches you already have both sides of.

Free · 30 min · No commitment

Thirty minutes on how your business runs today. You leave with a straight read on where AI pays off, and where it doesn't.

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