Just as commodity financing was starting to pick up following the 2008 financial crisis, a new round of credit tightness led by the European debt crisis threatens the liquidity of the market once again. Commodity trade is a dollar business and the issue of dollar availability is the factor most acutely felt by European bankers today.

However, compared with the peak of the credit crunch in 2008 and 2009, during which some trade finance dried up almost completely, the current tightening of credit