Summary

• Byproduct commodities like helium, sulphur, bromine and naphtha have no supply chains of their own and vanish the moment someone stops drilling or refining for something else.
• Unlike oil, none of these critical materials have strategic stockpiles - when supply stops, there is nothing to buy time while the world adjusts.
• The near-term picture is more resilient than the headlines suggest, but the impulse to diversify is already visible.

A hidden set of byproduct materials powers modern life, and their supply depends entirely on decisions made for other industries. Meet the hitchhiker commodities and why they matter now.

The Strait of Hormuz crisis

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