Thomson Reuters has added a tool to monitor and display the flow of commodities along the physical supply chain to its financial markets desktop Eikon.

The new tool, ‘Commodity Flows,’ will provide commodity market professionals with an innovative assessment tool to track the global movement of oil assets in real-time and forecast the influence of important impact factors upon supply, demand and market prices, said a statement.

Oil flow data has been available via a number of sources, requiring financial professionals to compile various data points to obtain a complete picture of oil flows around the globe. Commodities markets participants are, however, looking for a complete picture of the flow of oil assets in order to better monitor key predictive indicators and their effects on prices.

The tool will provide a single database of individual oil cargoes, incorporating information from vessel tracking, fixtures, tenders and port inspection to provide an assessment of the forward and historical movement of a commodity into a particular port or trading hub.

Customers can view the aggregated assessment provided by Thomson Reuters team of analysts or build their own commodity flow models. The tool’s models can be exported to Microsoft Excel or viewed in real-time using advanced map imagery available in Interactive Map in Eikon, enabling customers to view the data in the way that best suits their needs.

Thomson Reuters plans to add flow data for additional commodities to the Commodity Flows monitoring tool over time.

Shaun Sibley, managing director, commodities, said: “Commodity Flows in Eikon has achieved over 90 per cent accuracy for its monthly forward projections of crude oil imports into China, as compared to actual Chinese government customs data.

“With Thomson Reuters Eikon, we are providing commodities markets professionals with the real-time actionable insight they need to make more efficient and better-informed trading decisions.” - TradeArabia News Service