CMIS Data Sources
The Merxac Commodities Market Intelligence Service (CMIS) integrates data from multiple public and open-data sources. This page documents every source, its publisher, its license, and how it is used within CMIS.
All sources listed below are either in the public domain, published under an open license that explicitly permits commercial use with attribution, or produced by Merxac. Where a license requires attribution, that attribution is provided on this page and within the relevant CMIS views. No data sourced under a non-commercial (NC) license is used in CMIS.
Legal Notice — Data Accuracy, Limitations, and Acceptable Use
No Warranty of Data Accuracy or Completeness
All data presented in the Merxac Commodity Market Intelligence Service (CMIS) is compiled from third-party public and open-data sources as documented below, and from Merxac's own proprietary research. Merxac makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, currency, timeliness, reliability, or fitness for any particular purpose of any data made available through CMIS. Third-party source data is subject to errors, omissions, revisions, and delays beyond Merxac's control. Data points presented in CMIS represent the state of third-party sources at the time of ingestion and may not reflect subsequent updates, corrections, or restatements by the original publisher.
No Commercial or Legal Reliance
CMIS data is provided for general business research, market intelligence, and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice, investment advice, commodity trading advice, legal advice, regulatory guidance, sanctions clearance, compliance determination, or any other form of professional advice. Users must not rely on CMIS data as the sole or primary basis for any commercial, financial, legal, regulatory, or investment decision. All material data points must be independently verified with primary authoritative sources before being used for any such purpose. Merxac expressly disclaims any liability arising from reliance on CMIS data for commercial transactions, counterparty decisions, or regulatory compliance determinations.
Sanctions Data — Important Limitation
Sanctions flags displayed within CMIS are derived from publicly published sanctions lists (OFAC SDN, UN Security Council Consolidated List, UK OFSI Consolidated List) and are intended as a preliminary reference indicator only. The presence or absence of a sanctions flag in CMIS does not constitute a legal compliance determination, a sanctions clearance, or legal advice of any kind. Sanctions lists are updated frequently — sometimes daily — and CMIS data may not reflect the most current version of any list at the time of access. Users are solely responsible for conducting their own independent, real-time sanctions screening and for obtaining qualified legal advice before engaging with any counterparty. No liability is accepted by Merxac for any sanction exposure, regulatory breach, or legal consequence arising from reliance on sanctions data displayed in CMIS.
Geocoding and Location Data
Location coordinates displayed in CMIS for mines, ports, power plants, companies, and other entities are derived from third-party source data and, where source coordinates are absent or imprecise, from geocoding via the Mapbox Geocoding API using address or country-level information. Geocoded coordinates may be approximate and should not be relied upon for engineering, navigation, legal boundary determination, or any purpose requiring precise geographic accuracy. Merxac makes no warranty as to the accuracy of any location data displayed within CMIS.
Prohibited Uses
By accessing CMIS data, you agree that you will not:
- Use CMIS data to make, support, or justify any transaction, investment, lending, underwriting, or financial decision without independent verification from authoritative primary sources
- Redistribute, resell, republish, or provide access to CMIS data or data outputs to any third party without Merxac's prior written consent
- Scrape, extract, mirror, or systematically download data from CMIS by automated means
- Use CMIS data to build, train, enhance, or compete with any intelligence database, data product, or artificial intelligence model
- Represent CMIS data as independently verified, certified, authoritative, or legally compliant for any regulatory, financial, or legal purpose
- Use CMIS data or sanctions flag information to make definitive sanctions compliance determinations without independent legal advice and real-time screening
- Use CMIS data in any manner that violates applicable law, including applicable data protection, intellectual property, export control, or sanctions legislation
Data Currency and Refresh
Third-party datasets incorporated into CMIS are ingested at intervals and may not reflect the latest version of the data published by the original source. Merxac does not commit to a specific data refresh schedule for any third-party source. Users who require the most current available version of any dataset should consult the original publisher directly using the source URLs listed below.
Attribution Obligations
Several datasets incorporated into CMIS are published under licenses that require attribution (including CC BY 4.0 and Open Government Licence v3.0). Attribution for each such dataset is provided on this page. Users who independently access, republish, or make use of any open-license dataset listed below must comply with the attribution requirements of the applicable license as specified by the original publisher — not merely by reference to Merxac's use of the data.
Intellectual Property
The CMIS platform, its design, analytical methodology, data compilations, proprietary datasets (including the Merxac Mines database, Merxac Commodity Companies registry, Merxac Commodity Taxonomy, Merxac Country Profiles, and Merxac Global Commodity Company Directory), and all associated software are the intellectual property of Merxac and are protected by copyright, database rights, and other applicable laws. Merxac's aggregation and presentation of third-party open-data sources in a structured, searchable, and commercially usable form represents an original database compilation and is protected accordingly. Unauthorised reproduction, redistribution, or commercial exploitation of any CMIS compilation is prohibited.
Limitation of Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Merxac, its officers, directors, employees, agents, contractors, and licensors shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or exemplary damages arising from or in connection with use of or reliance on any data made available through CMIS, including losses arising from data inaccuracies, data gaps, delayed data updates, incorrect sanctions flags, inaccurate geocoding, or the actions or omissions of any counterparty identified through CMIS. This limitation applies whether the claim arises in contract, tort, breach of statutory duty, or otherwise. Merxac's Terms of Use apply in full to all use of CMIS data.
Updates to This Page
This page is maintained by Merxac and updated when new data sources are incorporated, license terms change, or source URLs are updated. If you believe any information on this page is inaccurate or if you have a question about a specific data source or license, please contact info@merxac.com.
Proprietary & Curated Data
Mines & Mineral Assets
Curated global database of operating, developing, and notable mines and mineral extraction assets. Includes commodity type, operator, country, operational status, logistics links, and confidence rating. Compiled and maintained by Merxac analysts from public filings, company disclosures, and industry sources.
Commodity Companies
Curated registry of commodity trading companies, producers, and integrated entities. Includes headquarters, business model, primary commodities, and data confidence rating. Compiled by Merxac from public company disclosures, industry directories, and regulatory filings.
Commodity Taxonomy
Merxac's internal classification framework mapping commodities to groups, typical trading units, HS codes, major producing countries, and critical mineral status. Serves as the canonical reference for commodity categorisation across all CMIS views.
Country Profiles
Structured intelligence profiles for commodity-relevant nations, covering export commodities, strategic notes, commodity group memberships, and data review metadata. Maintained by Merxac and enriched with third-party statistics from the sources listed below.
Ports & Logistics
UN/LOCODE — Code for Trade and Transport Locations
The United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations (UN/LOCODE) is a geographic coding scheme maintained by the UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe). It assigns standardised 5-character codes to ports, airports, border crossings, and inland logistics nodes worldwide. Used by Merxac to identify and geocode global port locations.
World Port Index (WPI)
The World Port Index (Publication 150) is a comprehensive directory of major ports and harbours compiled by the NGA. It provides coordinates, port type, facility capabilities, water body, shelter, and country for approximately 4,000 ports worldwide. A U.S. Government work, in the public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105.
Company & Legal Entity Data
SEC EDGAR — Public Company Filings
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (EDGAR) system provides public access to all filings submitted by publicly registered companies. Used as a reference source for company information in the curated Merxac company registry. U.S. Government work in the public domain.
Wikidata — Open Knowledge Graph
Wikidata is a free, collaborative knowledge base maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation. Provides structured data on companies, countries, commodities, and entities. Used as a reference source for company headquarters, country codes, and commodity metadata. Published under CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication).
Global LEI Index
The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) maintains the Global LEI Index — a public directory of Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) assigned to companies and legal entities worldwide. Each LEI record includes the entity's official legal name, jurisdiction, and registration status. Used in CMIS to verify and enrich commodity company identities via their LEI, and to surface parent entity relationships.
Sanctions & Compliance Screening
OFAC Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury publishes the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List — the primary U.S. sanctions list targeting individuals, entities, and vessels subject to U.S. economic sanctions programs. CMIS screens commodity companies and the company directory against this list and surfaces matches in the Map Inspector. A U.S. Government work in the public domain.
UN Security Council Consolidated Sanctions List
The United Nations Security Council Consolidated List contains all individuals and entities subject to measures imposed by the UN Security Council, including asset freezes, travel bans, and arms embargoes under various Chapter VII resolutions. The list is sourced directly from the UN's official XML publication. CMIS screens companies against this list and surfaces matches in the Map Inspector.
UK Financial Sanctions — Consolidated List (OFSI)
The UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) publishes the UK Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets — all individuals and entities subject to UK financial sanctions following the UK Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018. Sourced directly from HM Treasury. CMIS screens companies against this list and surfaces matches in the Map Inspector.
Trade & Shipping Statistics
World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS) — HS Export Data
The World Bank's World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS) platform aggregates international merchandise trade statistics based on HS (Harmonized System) codes, compiled from UN COMTRADE and UNCTAD TRAINS data. Used in CMIS Country Profiles to display a country's commodity export flows by category and top trading partners.
Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (LSCI)
The UNCTAD Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (LSCI) measures a country's integration into global liner shipping networks, based on five components: number of ships, container-carrying capacity, maximum vessel size, number of services, and number of companies that deploy container ships. A higher LSCI score indicates better integration. CMIS uses the LSCI to surface shipping connectivity data in country and port profiles.
Minerals & Critical Resources
Mineral Commodity Summaries — Import Reliance Data
The USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries is an annual publication providing global supply, demand, and trade data for over 90 mineral commodities. Used in CMIS to surface U.S. net import reliance percentages and major import sources per commodity, illustrating supply chain concentration risk for strategic minerals. A U.S. Government work in the public domain.
World Mineral Statistics — Production Data
The BGS World Mineral Statistics dataset provides annual production data for a wide range of minerals and metals by country, derived from official national government statistics, industry publications, and BGS research. Used in CMIS to display top producing countries and production volumes per commodity in the Commodity Taxonomy screener.
Critical Minerals Classification
The IEA maintains a classification of critical minerals — materials essential to clean energy transitions for which supply concentration and geopolitical risk are high. Used in CMIS to flag commodities as Tier 1 or Tier 2 critical minerals in the Commodity Taxonomy and map inspector views.
Energy Infrastructure
Global Power Plant Database (GPPD)
The Global Power Plant Database (GPPD) is a comprehensive, open-source database of power plants worldwide, covering approximately 35,000 facilities across 167 countries. It includes location, capacity (MW), primary fuel, generation output, owner, and commissioning year. Used in CMIS to render power generation infrastructure on the map.
Global LNG Terminal Tracker
GEM's Global LNG Terminal Tracker documents all liquefied natural gas (LNG) import and export terminals worldwide, including their capacity (Mtpa), operational status, owner, operator, parent company, and location. Used in CMIS to render LNG terminal infrastructure on the map and surface terminal details in the Map Inspector.
Global Gas Infrastructure Tracker — Pipelines
GEM's Global Gas Infrastructure Tracker documents natural gas pipeline projects worldwide, including pipeline name, segment, status, countries traversed, capacity (Bcm/year), owner, parent, start and end locations, and start year. Gas pipelines have no single geographic coordinate (they are linear features spanning multiple countries) and are therefore presented as a searchable reference table in CMIS Analytics rather than as a map layer.
Metals & Mining Infrastructure
Global Iron and Steel Plant Tracker
GEM's Global Iron and Steel Plant Tracker documents steel plants worldwide, including plant name, country, region, coordinates, owner, parent company, operational status, nominal crude steel capacity (thousand tonnes per annum, ttpa), and main production equipment (blast furnace, electric arc furnace, etc.). Used in CMIS to render steel plant infrastructure on the map and surface plant details in the Map Inspector.
Global Iron and Steel Plant Tracker — Met Coal & Iron Ore Statistics
The GEM Iron and Steel Plant Tracker also includes country-level aggregate statistics on the steel industry's consumption and production of key raw materials: metallurgical (met) coal mined, iron ore mined, pig iron produced, and direct reduced iron (DRI) produced — all in thousand tonnes per annum (ttpa). These statistics are displayed in CMIS Country Profiles for steel-producing nations.
Global Coal Mine Tracker
GEM's Global Coal Mine Tracker documents coal mines worldwide, including mine name, country, region, coordinates, operational status, coal type (thermal, metallurgical, sub-bituminous), mine type (surface, underground), capacity (Mtpa), owner, parent company, and opening year. Used in CMIS to render coal mine infrastructure on the map and surface mine details in the Map Inspector.
Global Commodity Company Directory
An expanded directory of commodity-relevant companies worldwide, including producer/miner/extractor and trader/distributor entities. Contains company name, region, country, HQ address, commodity sold, company type, and website. Locations are geocoded using the Mapbox Geocoding API to enable map display. Compiled and maintained by Merxac.
License Abbreviations
- CC BY 4.0 — Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. Free to use commercially with attribution.
- CC0 1.0 — Creative Commons Zero (Public Domain Dedication). No restrictions.
- OGL v3.0 — Open Government Licence v3.0 (UK). Commercial use permitted with attribution.
- U.S. Government / Public Domain — Works of the U.S. federal government are in the public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. No restrictions.
- Proprietary — Data compiled and owned by Merxac. All rights reserved.