Material flow map
Material Flow & Arbitrage Engine - supply chain as an investable exposure
Most supply-chain risk tools were built for procurement, not investors. They tell you which factories are at risk; they do not tell you which equities, currencies, or commodities will price that risk. Market Ontology's Material Flow & Arbitrage Engine maps 6 layers of industrial decomposition - from raw inputs to chokepoints to refining to fabrication to distribution to end-market exposure - and connects each layer to the listed equities and commodities most directly tied to it.
- 6-layer decomposition - Raw inputs → chokepoints → refining → fabrication → distribution → end markets.
- Equity exposure mapping - Each material maps to the listed names and sectors with direct revenue exposure.
- Chokepoint monitoring - Strategic maritime passages, refining bottlenecks, semiconductor concentration.
- Arbitrage signals - Where physical and financial pricing diverge - actionable exposure for institutional desks.
Why supply chain matters for investors
Modern equity portfolios are full of names whose earnings depend on physical goods moving through specific chokepoints, refined by specific facilities, and fabricated by a small number of firms. A semiconductor sanction, a maritime closure, or a refining outage can reprice a sector in hours - but only if you have already mapped the exposure.
What the engine maps
- Energy: crude, refined products, natural gas - by region and chokepoint
- Metals: copper, lithium, cobalt, rare earths - by mine, refinery, end use
- Agriculture: grains, softs, fertilizers - by trade route and import dependency
- Semiconductors: wafer fabs, packaging, design IP - by geography and node
- Industrial inputs: specialty chemicals, polymers, advanced materials
For each material, the engine identifies the listed equities and commodity contracts most directly exposed and surfaces arbitrage signals where physical and financial prices diverge.
Who uses it
Institutional analysts, commodity desks, and corporate strategy teams use the engine to price supply chain risk as an investable exposure rather than a procurement worry.