Most Powerful

• #1 Andrew Forrest
  Asia-PacificAustraliaChina (iron ore demand)Global commodities marketsWestern Australia IndustrialResource Extraction ControlResources 21st Century Finance and Wealth Power: 47
  Andrew Forrest (born 1961) is an Australian mining executive and philanthropist associated with Fortescue Metals Group, the iron ore producer he helped found and scale into one of Australia’s largest resource companies. His public profile combines the high-stakes mechanics of commodity extraction with an unusually prominent philanthropic and advocacy platform, including initiatives on modern slavery, Indigenous engagement, disaster relief, and global health. Forrest’s business career is often presented as a case study in how a late entrant can break into a market dominated by entrenched incumbents by assembling rights to deposits, building export logistics, and securing demand through aggressive commercial positioning.
• #2 Andrey Melnichenko
  EuropeGlobal commodities marketsRussiaSwitzerland IndustrialResource Extraction Control 21st Century Finance and Wealth Power: 47
  Andrey Melnichenko (born 1972) is a Russian industrialist associated with large commodity enterprises in fertilizers and coal, most prominently the EuroChem Group and the coal company SUEK. He rose during the post-Soviet era when banking, privatization, and consolidation created opportunities for a small number of business figures to assemble control over strategic assets. Over time, his influence came to rest less on financial engineering and more on industrial scale: fertilizer production sits at the core of global food systems, while coal and related logistics remain significant in power generation and industrial supply chains.