For commodity traders operating in the Information Age, Bloomberg reports that just good old trading doesn't cut it anymore... "Everything is transparent, everybody knows everything and has access to information."

Unlike the stock market in which transactions are typically based on information that's public, firms that buy and sell raw materials thrived for decades in an opaque world where their metier relied on knowledge privy only to a few. Now, technological development, expanding sources of data, more sophisticated producers and consumers as well as transparency surrounding deals are eroding their advantage.

Just ask Noble Group...

At a panel discussing 'What's Next for Commodity Trading: Drivers, Disruptors and Opportunities', Bloomberg reports that Sunny Verghese, the chief executive officer of food trader Olam International Ltd., lamented declining margins.

"The consumers and producers are trying to eat our lunch. So we got to be smart about differentiating ourselves," he said.

As market participants' access to information increases, the traders highlighted the need to more than simply buy and sell commodities as profits from arbitrage -- or gains made from a differential in prices -- shrinks. That means getting involved in the supply chain by potentially buying into infrastructure that's key to the production and distribution of raw materials, and also providing financing for the development of such assets.