Certificate programme
Commodities Unlocked
Spring semester 2026
Six evening workshops and a trading competition, with a certificate signed by CLS-HSG.
A student club for people curious about physical trade
CTSC is a student association at the University of St. Gallen. We run events on energy, agriculture, metals and freight, and anyone at HSG can join.
Why the club exists
A business degree will teach you to value a company, but almost never how a cargo of crude is bought, insured and shipped halfway around the world.
We are HSG students who spend our spare time on how physical commodities are bought, shipped and paid for. Each semester we bring people from trading houses and shipping companies to campus and run evening workshops.
Our speakers so far include Prof. Ivo Sarjanovic, James May of Duferco, Capt. Harpreet Singh of Suisse Atlantique and Alberto Ravano of Bulk Trading.
What we organise
Speaker sessions
A trader, charterer or analyst walks through how their business really works, then takes questions until people run out.
Workshops & case studies
Small groups, laptops open. Past sessions covered the fundamentals of oil, coffee, steel and shipowning, and a crude oil trading simulation in the HSG trading room.
Networking
Evenings at Bar adhoc on campus, like our first event in October 2025 and the Meet & Greet in September 2026. Everyone is welcome, member or not.
The four markets we follow
Our talks and workshops keep coming back to the same four markets.
Energy Markets
Crude, refined products, gas and power. We look at how a cargo gets priced, financed and hedged, and what the energy transition is doing to those trades.
Agricultural Commodities
Grains and softs move on weather, freight and politics. Our sessions here cover origination and how a trader keeps a physical book balanced when the harvest surprises everyone.
Metals & Mining
Copper, aluminium and battery raw materials. A new mine takes a decade to build while demand shifts in months, which is what makes the pricing so interesting.
Freight & Shipping
Tankers, dry bulk and boxes. Freight rates usually decide whether an arbitrage works at all, so we spend real time on chartering basics and the FFA market.
The value chain
A cargo only makes money if every link holds. That is why we cover the trade and the freight side together.
Production
Trading
Freight & Shipping
Port
End Market
The University of St. Gallen
Founded in 1898, the University of St. Gallen holds the Triple Crown of EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA accreditation, which only around 120 schools worldwide manage. Its teaching is deliberately practice-oriented, mixing management, economics, law and international affairs. Students come from close to 100 countries, and that is who fills the room at our events.
The university is also one of the club's academic partners. Our partners
Free for every HSG student
Come to the events as a member, or apply for a Teamie role and help run them.