Commodities switzerland’s most dangerous business Berne Declaration (ED.) Preface by Karin Lissakers, The Revenue Watch Institute

Commodities switzerland’s most dangerous business Berne Declaration (ED.) Preface by Karin Lissakers, The Revenue Watch Institute

Welcome

Commodities are the lifeblood in the veins of the 
global economy and are of commensurate 
strategic importance. No wonder, then, that 
increasingly scarce natural resources 
have become an ever-growing political issue in 
recent years.

WELCOME TO SWITZERLAND, THE COMMODITY
CAROUSEL: ‘WARNING: RISK OF DIZZINESS!’
Geneva, Grand Hotel Kempinski, end of March 2011. While the world 
stares spellbound at the slow-motion reactor catastrophe at the Fukushima 
nuclear power plant, the commodity business meets for its annual 
rendezvous, the ‘Trading Forum’, on the shores of beautiful Lake Geneva.
In his talk, oil trader and Mercuria co-owner Daniel Jaeggi responds 
to this burning issue and reflects on what a global nuclear phase-out 
might well yield for him and the others present. Although only five per 
cent of the world’s energy comes from nuclear power, that nevertheless 
corresponds to 610 million tonnes of oil annually, or 15 per cent of global 
output. “I just leave you with that,” Jaeggi closes with a smile.
Where others see only disaster, the commodity trader sees an 
‘opportunity’, his chance for new, large and, above all, profitable business.
Successful ‘opportunity hunters’ have transformed Switzerland into a 
centre for commodity traders and made it a world leader, and all in just 
a few decades. As one of the very few top traders who is actually Swiss, 
Jaeggi is also the exception that proves the rule. In almost all cases it has 

Commodities switzerland’s most dangerous business Berne Declaration (ED.) Preface by Karin Lissakers, The Revenue Watch Institute