Every chemicals trader and businessman knows the truth behind the saying, “Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it.”

It was true back in 100 A.D., when the Roman author, Publilius Syrus first wrote it, and it was true long before Adam Smith taught the world Supply vs Demand.

The problem for chemicals traders is finding out what at what price a purchaser has bought. So much of the chemicals industry is governed by long-term deals and relationships; where contracts are signed behind closed doors. Prices between two parties can only be estimated by those outside of the deal.

We can assume therefore, that when Syrus and Smith were writing they were not considering the spot price of 20mt of glycine in a warehouse in Mumbai.

Fortunately, today’s global, internet connected, 24/7 chemicals trading network offers us greater information than either of those two wise gentlemen can ever have imagined possible. With a move of a mouse and a right-click click, commodity prices can easily be tracked on Bloomberg or CNBC. Australian based IG, even offer an online trading platform. Other websites offer a range of chemical products or a more localised service, such as NCDEX for Indian agriculture.

Yet many of these sites hold prices only for ‘paper’ products: speculations on how future commodity prices will rise or fall. For trading in real world chemical products, prices can be found on Alibaba, but this still requires an application for a quote.

A truly electronic trading hub like that at Spotchemi (who host this blog) offers at a glance chemical prices for products being offered for sale, as well as prices from those wanting to buy.

But of course, these prices are only offers to buy or sell. They may be some way off from the true trading price. So this website also shows the actual price and location of recent trades, so that you are able to know what a product is worth, by the amount that a purchaser paid for it.

So how much is any chemical product worth? The price is online, if you know where to look.