Case study · Agri-commodity research
Market data platform for an agri-commodity research firm
A subscription platform that collects sugar, grains and edible oil prices from exchanges, markets and published sources, checks them, and turns them into dashboards, margins, alerts and reports for clients.
Edible oils · trade board
Sample values, not market data
| Commodity | Market | Price | Day | Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soybean oil | Market A | ₹1,148 /10 kg | +0.6% | +1.9% |
| Palm oil | Port B | ₹1,062 /10 kg | −0.4% | +0.8% |
| Mustard oil | Market C | ₹1,385 /10 kg | +0.2% | −1.1% |
| Soybean meal | Market A | ₹3,420 /qtl | −1.3% | −2.6% |
Fictional prices and markets for illustration.
- Industry
- Agri-commodity market research
- System
- Market data and insights platform
- Used by
- Research staff and subscribing businesses
- Delivery
- Custom platform, rebuilt on a new stack
The project in short
We built a market intelligence platform for an agri-commodity research firm. Scheduled jobs collect sugar, grains and edible oil prices from around twenty sources, check them for gaps and outliers, and publish them to subscriber dashboards. Clients compare markets on trade boards, chart spreads and margins, set price alerts and download branded reports for the commodities their plan includes.
The challenge
Market research ran on copy and paste
The firm tracks Indian and international prices for sugar, grains and edible oils for businesses that trade and process them. Prices arrive from exchanges, government portals, market reports and broker rate lists, each in its own format and at its own time.
Collecting, checking and charting that data by hand left little time for analysis. The firm needed a platform that gathers and checks prices automatically, then presents them to each client according to their subscription.
What the system had to handle
- 01
Data you can trust
Every price needs a source, a date and a check before clients see it.
- 02
Commodity context
Traders compare markets, spreads, margins and parity, not single prices.
- 03
Plans and permissions
Each client sees the commodities and tools their plan includes.
- 04
Reports clients can use
Weekly summaries and custom reports need to export cleanly to PDF and Excel.
The workflow
From source to subscriber
Every price follows the same path, so clients see data that has been collected, checked and recorded with its origin.
- 01
Collect
Scheduled jobs pull prices from exchanges, portals, emailed rate lists and file uploads.
- 02
Validate
Each run is logged, and rows with missing or invalid prices are held back.
- 03
Monitor
A daily check flags feeds that are late, stopped or unchanged.
- 04
Review
Analysts confirm, correct or delete flagged values, with history and undo.
- 05
Publish
Checked prices update dashboards, alerts and reports.
Trade boards and parity
Markets, spreads and margins on one screen
Trade boards bring spot and futures prices together by commodity, with margins and parity calculated from the same checked data.
- A market overview with headline prices and week and month changes
- An edible oil trade board with crush and refining margins across markets
- Import and export parity models with duty slabs, freight and clearance costs
- Parity snapshots move from draft to approved, and an edit to an approved day creates a new revision
Wheat import parity
Sample day
- FOB origin
- $248 /t
- Freight to India
- $32 /t
- CIF India
- $280 /t
- Duty slab
- Under TRQ
- Landed cost
- ₹2,510 /qtl
- Status
- Draft
Data quality
Prices are checked before clients see them
The platform watches its own feeds and sends questionable values to analysts for a decision.
- Run logs for every collection job, marked succeeded, partial or failed
- Late, stopped and frozen feed alerts, plus a daily feed digest
- A review queue for outliers, future-dated and out-of-range prices
- A preview before an uploaded file is imported, and row history with undo
Data quality queue
Flagged in the latest runs
| Series | Date | Issue | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheat spot · Market D | 14 Nov | Outlier | Corrected |
| Sugar M · Market E | 14 Nov | Out of range | Confirmed |
| Maize spot · Market F | 15 Nov | Future-dated | Deleted |
Sample queue. Decisions keep row history and can be undone.
Analyst tools
Charts, alerts and reports for each subscriber
Clients build their own views and get updates without waiting for an analyst.
- A chart workbench with up to eight series, unit and currency conversion, spreads and ratios
- Seasonal bands, forward curves and correlation views
- Price alerts in the app and by email
- A report builder for branded PDF and Excel, plus scheduled report emails
Price alerts and reports
One subscriber, one sample day
-
08:30
Soybean oil above ₹1,140 Triggered
Alert sent in the app and by email.
-
13:30
Palm oil down 2% in a week Watching
Condition not met.
-
18:30
Weekly market summary Sent
Branded PDF and Excel sent to subscribers.
Uses the same sample prices as the trade board.
Capabilities
What is in the platform
Market overview
Headline prices, changes and stale-data flags.
Sugar
Domestic and international prices, spreads, production and trade data.
Grains
Spot prices, parity and international benchmarks.
Oils and oilseeds
Trade board, crush and refining margins, and spot and futures pages.
Chart workbench
Custom charts, saved views and correlation.
Alerts and reports
Price alerts, weekly summaries and a report builder.
Data operations
Price grids, uploads, feed freshness and the data quality queue.
Client plans and access
Plans with dates, client users and roles, and usage tracking.
Audit and activity
Logins, plan changes, page views and downloads.
Connected tools
- EmailInvitations, sign-in codes, price alerts, reports and feed digests
- Mailbox importReads emailed rate lists into the price tables
- Team chat alertsData pipeline alerts posted to a chat channel
- PDF and ExcelBranded reports with native charts
What it gives the team
More time for analysis, less for collecting data
Data with a source
Every price is stored with its origin and date, and corrections keep a history.
Problems surface early
Feed alerts and the review queue flag gaps before clients notice them.
Self-serve for subscribers
Clients chart, compare, set alerts and export within their plan.
These are capabilities the software supports. We have not published measured ROI or performance results for this project.
Who it is for
Built for research and data businesses
- Commodity research and advisory firms
- Trading desks and processors that track many markets
- Businesses that sell data or insights by subscription
A good fit when
- Prices arrive from many sources in different formats
- Data needs checking before it is published
- Clients need different access by plan
How we would build yours
- 01
Discover
We map your process, documents, roles and the reports your team relies on.
- 02
Scope and design
We agree the modules, rules, integrations and screens before the build starts.
- 03
Build in phases
Each module is released for your review and tested with representative data.
- 04
Roll out and support
We train your team, stage the rollout and keep improving as your process grows.
What is a commodity market intelligence platform?
It is software that collects prices and market data, checks them and presents them as dashboards, charts, alerts and reports. This one covers sugar, grains and edible oils for a research firm and its subscribers.
How does the platform handle bad or missing data?
Each collection job is logged, invalid rows are held back, and a daily check flags feeds that are late, stopped or unchanged. Analysts review flagged values and confirm, correct or delete them, with history and undo.
Can each client see different data?
Yes. Plans set which commodities and tools a client can use, with start and end dates, and each client's owner manages their own users and roles.
Can reports be branded and exported?
Yes. Reports can be built and downloaded as branded PDF or Excel files, and clients can subscribe to daily or weekly report emails.
Is this an off-the-shelf data product?
No. It is a custom platform built around this firm's sources, commodities and subscription model. For a new client, scope, data sources and delivery are agreed after discovery.
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Your project
Turn your market data into a product.
Bring the sources you collect from today and the reports your clients ask for. We will map the pipeline, checks and dashboards you need.
This is an anonymised case study: the client's name and data are kept confidential. Screens are illustrative interfaces with sample data, not screenshots of the live system. Each implementation is scoped separately; this is not a packaged subscription product.