“We’re not just trading — we’re transforming”/
Why Singapore doubles down on innovation, trade, and sustainability

Throughout your career, you have worked extensively with trading companies. Could you share your observations on how the trading landscape has evolved over the years, and highlight some of the key initiatives at Enterprise Singapore that you are particularly proud of?

Singapore has made remarkable progress as a global commodities trading hub, doubling both our offshore trade and exports over the years. Today, we are home to about 400 global traders dealing in all major classes of products, from agri-commodities and consumer goods to metals and energy products.

While anchoring trade flows in Singapore was our initial focus and remains important, what I am particularly proud of is how we have worked with these companies to deepen their presence beyond trading. Take the pulses sector, where Singapore manages 30-40% of global trade flows. We have supported leading pulses companies to expand beyond their trading operations – where they are establishing innovation centres and sustainability teams in Singapore to develop new products for Asian markets and drive their global sustainability initiatives.

We are also creating new opportunities for commodity players, including pulses companies, to participate in the growing carbon markets. The recently launched Carbon Markets Academy of Singapore (CMAS) is a key initiative to develop talent and thought leadership in carbon services and trading.