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(Bloomberg) — Commodity merchants possible noticed a file $115.6 billion in gross margin final 12 months on market volatility pushed by Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, based on a brand new report.

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If confirmed by buying and selling corporations’ annual revenue figures — a lot of which haven’t been launched but — it could be a 61% enhance over the earlier 12 months, consultants Oliver Wyman stated within the examine.

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The aftershocks of Russia’s invasion just a little over a 12 months in the past despatched commodity costs from power to metals and grains on a tear. That volatility, together with sanctions and export restrictions, created arbitrage alternatives for merchants because the world’s power and meals provide maps have been redrawn.

“Buying and selling corporations that spent years creating their portfolios, agile tradition and experience have been effectively positioned to deal with the disruption and maintain commodities flowing,” the examine stated. It didn’t record particular person corporations.

Business income has roughly tripled from the $36 billion in 2018, based on the report. Gross margins from impartial buying and selling homes far outstripped others within the sector. For the primary time, the consultancy’s evaluation cut up out hedge fund numbers into their very own part, having merged them with others beforehand.

“Hedge funds roughly left commodities after 2010-2011, however over the past two to 3 years they’ve actually constructed up their capabilities in a return to the market, and fairly efficiently so,” Ernst Frankl, who leads the agency’s world commodity buying and selling and threat apply, stated in an interview.