Commodity Flow Blog cFlow as a trend forecasting tool

cFlow® data can be used to confidently forecast monthly LNG import trends and volumes.In this historic 2011 example graph, cFlow® data (black) is compared against figures published by the JODI (blue) for United States LNG imports. In all months, the official JODI trend is accurately matched by cFlow®. cFlow® data, however, is available 2 months prior to figures published by the JODI for current months.Also shown are predictive trends, calculated based on cFlow® data at set points during each month.Current data is taken on the 10th of each month and the average volume of LNG imported per day up to that point is calculated. This value is then extraploated to give a total value for the current month (P10, red). Data is again taken on the 20th of each month (P20, green). In this example, we have calculated the values for predicted trends historically.The P20 trend closely follows that of the official figures, meaning that cFlow® data can be used to predict trends (and often near-correct volume) of LNG flow with a good degree of confidence, up to 10 days before the end of the current month.