This plentiful metalloid element would appear to have the makings of a futures market. So why hasn’t it happened yet – and could it come? Vishala Sri-Pathma investigates.
Contrary to popular imagination, silicon is not a rare substance found only in computer chips and movie stars’ breast implants.
Silicon is the second most abundant element in the earth’s crust after oxygen and its compounds form the basis of sand, cement, bricks and glass. But pure silicon has a wide range of much more valuable properties – and although it is everywhere, the difficulty of extracting it makes it costly.
As this is a raw material with many applications and well agreed grades of purity, it would appear to have all the characteristics of a commodity that would support a futures market. So could this be on the way?
Most of the world’s metallurgical grade silicon...