Commodities Series Part iii: Mind the (infrastructure) gap

The World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council (GFC) on Infrastructure claimed the world is facing a US$15trillion infrastructure gap by 2040. Efforts to bridge infrastructure gaps in the past decade have been thwarted by a lack of policy inertia, policy paralysis and more urgent crises to deal with (COVID-19 comes to mind). But in 2021, are the stars aligned for a renewed effort? •A Democratic sweep in the US unblocking potential roadblocks •China employing its traditional form of stimulus •Brexit negotiations no longer taking as much political bandwidth as in the recent past •A global ‘green’ recovery being highly sought after We believe an infrastructure-led structural recovery will support commodities for longer than the normal business cycle recovery. In part iii of this webinar series we will explore the drivers and likelihood of an increase in infrastructure spend boom as well as which commodities we favour if it were to happen. After a challenging start to 2020, the commodities complex recovered well in the second half of the year and is entering 2021 with a lot of positive momentum. Across this series we take a look at the key themes that we believe are likely to drive the commodities markets in 2021. •A cyclical economic recovery – how will the manufacturing rebound impact commodities? •Structural recovery - will infrastructure investment add a further tailwind to commodities? •A focus on the environment – is the green energy transition accelerating? •La Niña – how can nature disrupt the agriculture complex? Other webinars in this series: + Part i: The impending reflation and portfolio readiness + Part ii: A red sky at night, a commodity trader’s delight? + Part iv: Commodities, environment & the accelerating green energy transition