Resources for commodity trading teams.
Guides, comparisons, calculators and a glossary. Written for people trading physical commodities who are evaluating a CTRM or tightening up how they operate. Maintained by Thinktier OÜ.
Pillar guides
Long reads that cover a subject properly. The place to start if the sector is new to you.
Comparisons
Practical analysis to choose between the real options on the market.
Free tools
Public calculators and utilities you can use without signing up.
Glossary
Short definitions of the terms used most in physical commodity trading.
Articles
Short pieces on one concrete problem: auditing the margin, catching costs that never reach the sheet, keeping exposure under control.
- Article10 min read
The €40,000 formula error nobody caught until the year-end close
A reconstructed case: two cost lines typed just below a SUM range leave €400 per container out of the margin. How it happened and three checks that catch it.
Open - Article9 min read
How to see that a trade is heading for trouble three weeks before it ships
Margin below your average, freight high for its route, loading with no documents and a late milestone: the 4 signs that warn weeks ahead, and how to track them.
Open - Article10 min read
The 6 milestones that stop a shipment from falling apart
Booking, gate-in, on board, B/L, arrival and release: what must be done at each milestone, when it falls due and what to check if a date slips by.
Open - Article11 min read
What a container really costs, line by line
The full cost of a 20-tonne container, from the FOB purchase to the customer’s warehouse: thirteen lines, who pays each one under each Incoterm, and VAT.
Open - Article11 min read
You bought at 2,400 and today the market pays 2,250: what your unsold goods are worth
Mark-to-market in physical trading: what the goods you bought and have not sold are worth today, the formula, where the price comes from, units and currencies.
Open - Article13 min read
The deal you thought was a winner that closed at a loss
A deal with €7,800 of margin on the sheet that ends at −€1,212: the eight variances in order, when each one was known and how to reconcile actual costs.
Open - Article11 min read
How much product do you have bought but not sold, or sold but not bought? If it takes you more than 10 seconds to say, you have a problem
Open position in physical commodity trading: goods bought but not sold (long) or sold but not bought (short), with the sum by product and a 10-second test.
Open - Article12 min read
The 9 costs that eat your GP and are not in your spreadsheet
The nine costs of importing or exporting a container that almost no spreadsheet captures, how to estimate each one before you quote and what they eat.
Open - Article11 min read
The FX gap that opens between fixing the price and getting paid
FX risk on one container, line by line: the euro move that wipes out your margin, when the exposure ends and four ways to manage it.
Open - Article6 min read
Why the margin in your spreadsheet is not the margin you collect
Your sheet shows the budgeted margin; the bank credits the settled one. One container line by line, the five leaks between them and how to reconcile.
Open - Article8 min read
Demurrage: the surprise invoice nobody budgets for
Why demurrage is rarely bad luck, how tiered charges add up, and the three dates that warn you two weeks before the vessel berths.
Open - Article7 min read
Your forwarder is overcharging you and your spreadsheet cannot prove it
How to build a historical freight benchmark per route from your own shipments, and spot the outlier before you pay the invoice.
Open - Article11 min read
How to audit your trading spreadsheet in an afternoon: the 5 faults that break the margin
The five errors that make your spreadsheet margin differ from the real one, each with the exact check that catches it in your own file.
Open
Frequently asked questions
41 real questions from teams evaluating Granel, grouped into 6 categories.
- FAQ7 questions
Product and features
What Granel is, what it does, how it differs from an ERP or a spreadsheet, and who it is built for.
Open - FAQ9 questions
Pricing and plans
What Granel costs, what each plan includes, how billing works and what happens if you change plan or cancel.
Open - FAQ7 questions
Onboarding and migration
How long it takes to go live, how historical data is imported and what support the Granel team provides.
Open - FAQ8 questions
Security and data
Where your data lives, how it is protected, who can reach it and how European regulation is met.
Open - FAQ3 questions
Integrations
How Granel connects to your ERP, accounting, BI tools and the rest of the systems you already run.
Open - FAQ7 questions
Company and support
Who is behind Granel, how to reach the team and which support channels come with each plan.
Open
Missing a resource?
Suggest a guide, a case or a term.
We publish what real trading teams ask for. If your question is not answered here, write to us and we will take it on in the next batch.