Which physical traded commodities generate a gross margin of more than 20%?

1. What the question actually asks — and why the data don’t exist in neat form

Asking which physical traded commodities “generate a gross margin of more than 20%” is a request for commodity‑level profitability ratios, but public research and industry reports mostly publish aggregate gross‑margin pools, EBIT of trading firms, or commentary on which sectors were most profitable in a given year rather than per‑commodity margin percentages ^{[1] [2]}. Major consultancies and market research providers report global trading gross margin in dollar terms and breakouts by broad commodity groups (energy, metals, agriculture), not stable commodity‑by‑commodity gross‑margin percentages suitable for definitive ranking ^{[1] [5]}.

2. Where the evidence points: metals and refined products as the likeliest >20% pockets

Analysts repeatedly single out industrial and precious metals and certain refined product flows as the most fertile sources of trading margin value, with McKinsey and Oliver Wyman noting that metals and merchant trading captured disproportionate value pools and uplift in margins in recent years ^{[3] [1]}. McKinsey and Oliver Wyman show that metals and mining margins “saw an uplift” and that merchant traders in metals expanded a margin value pool approaching roughly 20% in their analyses ^{[3] [4]}. That language indicates that, at least at the value‑pool level, metals trading has produced margin rates comparable to the 20% threshold, although these are aggregate, portfolio‑level observations rather than a per‑ton margin for a specific commodity ^[3].

3. Energy and agriculture: volatile, sometimes lucrative, rarely consistently >20%

Energy trading produced record gross margins during periods of extreme volatility (2020–2022) and contributed heavily to industry totals, yet those returns were episodic; Oliver Wyman documents record years followed by meaningful normalization and declines as volatility fell ^{[1] [5]}. Similarly, product trading (refined oil products) has sometimes preserved margins even when crude trading softened, but reporting frames that as flow‑driven and time‑specific rather than as a persistent >20% margin characteristic ^[4]. Agricultural “softs” and staples exhibit strong seasonality and weather susceptibility; market participants and forecasters flag potential gains in years of crop stress but not durable >20% gross margins across cycles ^{[6] [7]}.

4. Costs, regulation and collateral are squeezing headline margins

Even where gross‑margin pools appear large, rising margin and collateral costs, changing CCP treatment, and regulatory shifts are compressing net economics for traders, meaning headline gross margins over 20% can be eroded by funding and initial‑margin requirements ^{[8] [5]}. OpenGamma explains that portfolio margining, separate CCP treatments, and higher collateral demand can create effective “gross margining” and increase capital drag on trades ^[8], while Oliver Wyman and McKinsey warn that the sector’s historical outperformance is sensitive to volatility and balance‑sheet access ^{[1] [2]}.

5. Balanced conclusion and what’s left unanswered

Available reporting supports the cautious conclusion that metals (both industrial and precious) and certain refined product trades have been the most likely places where trading businesses captured margin value at or near a 20% level in recent years, but no source provides a definitive commodity‑by‑commodity list of persistent gross margins >20%—the public evidence is aggregate, episodic, and influenced by volatility, capital costs, and regulatory change ^{[3] [4] [8]}. For a definitive, transaction‑level answer one would need proprietary firm P&L data or granular trade economics that the cited industry reports do not publish ^{[1] [2]}.