The World For Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources

This is a great book describing how the global commodity trading changed over time. Recommended for anyone interested in finance or commodity markets.

I thought this was a fantastic book on international commodities trade and finance. It is written in a style that makes it easy and fun to read. You don’t need any knowledge of commodities accounting to understand and appreciate it.The book tells of the individuals who created the very concepts of international commodities trading in the 1950s and then moved to establish private partnership companies specializing in certain commodities such as coal, oil, copper, ferrous ores, nickel, cobalt, and now in the 21st century the rare earth metals necessary for cellphones and computers. By the 1990s or early 21st century the profits were in the billions of dollars.There are many stories how a trader rescued an entire country or government from potential bankruptcy. There are also stories of how one or more of these trading companies were complicit in aiding a local dictator to raid his country of resources for him to become fabulously wealthy.

As a former commodity trader, who traded with every major commodity house covered in this book, I was very skeptical that any journalists could do a good job on this subject. Boy, was I wrong! Javier Blas and Jack Karchy did a stellar job! Painstakingly researched (with sixty pages of reference notes), well-written, engaging and the authors should be commended for their success in conducting personal interviews with many traders and key players. Great read! It will be a permanent addition to my library.

Anyone with a slight interest in financial markets will enjoy this book. Part financial part historical it gives a look into the world of commodities traders.

A rare delight of a read. I was worried that it would be dry and boring, but it was the opposite. These writers weave a zippy narrative that is chockful of great info, I especially the gossipy stuff. My only complaint is that it was written before the war in Ukraine upended Rolfe commodity market. I’d love to get an update from these two master journalists.

In “The World For Sale,” Farchy and Blas pen an informed, interesting journalistic expose’ on the trading of commodities, mostly oil, from the days of Marc Rich to the present, targeting the big traders, Glencore, Vitol, Trafigua and others. The first half of the book starting with Rich tends to be repetitious and formulaic;“so many commodities, so few traders,” similar structures and predictable revelations. The second half examines mostly trading oil and its impact on the politics of countries; e.g. Russia, Chad, Libya; the influence of China on world trade, the standard corruptions and payoffs, the use of American law to crack down on corruption. The last chapter is particularly informative as a basis on the future of commodity trading in the age of instant communication and information on prices.

I devoured this book as it was interesting and readable for what could be a dull subject. A real page turner!

Really interesting dive into the hidden world of the companies that make our world go round. Fascinating story about maverick traders who bent the rules (perhaps justifiably) to provide the foundations for growth of so many countries

I knew of commodity traders before reading this - how prices of metals, grain, coffee, oil etc. are traded. I innocently thought that they just helped buy and sell the goods internationally like a greengrocer or someone at a hardware store.How wrong I was.Countries have been on the verge of bankruptcy, saved by a few people with power to redirect oil tankers and arrange "quite dubious" loans to nations that now would fall fowl of international law. The commodity traders can make millions in profit just by seeing a trend that nobody else has.... they can also make huge losses should they fail.Russia, China, USA, Iran - any country of note (for better or worse) gets a mention.This is an excellent book - well written, no fluff or padding. It almost reads like a thriller at times as international deals are made with hours to spare. I've recommended this to the accountant at work and anyone else with a vague interest in financial matters.You won't look at the changing prices of supermarket staples in the same way ever again.

This was a truly fascinating read. The authors manage to cover the history of post-WWII commodity trading and the tremendous impact that commodity traders have had on the world both politically and economically in such a readable way. I read this book much faster than I read most books. It’s definitely a pager turner and I am sad I finished it already!

I’ll be honest, it’s taken me a long time to work my way through this book.The book has a lot of stories going on within it - different markets, firms, countries etc, so it’s not the easiest to keep track of.There are certainly some interesting stories in here that I wouldn’t have known otherwise and it’s eye opening to see just how much influence/ power these traders have held. That said, it wasn’t a book ‘I couldn’t put down’ and after a while the stories all sort of had a similar theme to them which is perhaps why it took me a while to work through.I think if you’re really interested in the commodities market, then this book would be for you. While the subject does interest me, it was perhaps a bit too much for me.Didn’t have any issues with the written style or print quality or anything like that.

Well written and researched.

Hooray! Your maiden aunts have written a history of the modern commodities trade, and it is very amusing.Two purse lipped journalists from Bloomberg chronicle the dodgy dealings of ruthless capitalists with disreputable regimes, in order to put food on our plates and fuel our lifestyles.Are these merchants really as bad as all that? No doubt the address books of Glencore, Vitol and others include some pretty unsavoury characters. But I write this review a day after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, who was also obliged to sup with some blood soaked tyrants: Brezhnev, Ceaucescu, Xi Jing Ping, numerous Arab sheikhs, Toni Blair...The difference appears to be that it's all right if it's done for politics, but not if it's done for money. Hmmm.Bringing the story up to date, you can be sure that Putin is being robbed blind by the oil traders as they help him get round sanctions and keep the lights on in India. Sanctions busting is older than the story of Jacob and Esau. And the bible approves of the subterfuge.So I'm going to recommend this book to any parent with a child who has a sense of adventure and the desire to get stonkingly rich.Meanwhile, if we are going to continue to invite devils to banquets in Buckingham Palace perhaps we should invest in some longer cutlery.