This time last year, commodities desks were happily expanding as other areas of financial services talked about cut-backs. However, recent redundancy announcements have shown the sector isn’t entirely immune, but do some job opportunities still remain?

The good news is that business still appears to be going fairly well. In the latest round of increasingly dire quarterly reports, the likes of JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley reported strong or record performance in commodities.

There are signs that this is fostering recruitment. Despite proclaiming that it’s cutting trading risk, Deutsche Bank has been hiring for its commodities trading team.

Barclays Capital expanded its commodities headcount from 225 at the start of 2008 to 300 at the end of last year.

Lehman’s commodities team also appears to have had little problem in getting rehired. BNP Paribas, Louis Capital Markets, Standard Chartered and UBS have all taken them onboard.

But for all the promising signs, there are a few negative ones. Merrill Lynch has pared back its commodities team and UBS – despite hiring from Lehman – has sold part of its business to Barclays Capital and JPMorgan.

Paul Chrispin, partner and co-head of the commodities desk at headhunters Principal Search, says it’s something of a mixed picture on the hiring front.

“Most commodity desks within bulge bracket banks had an outstanding year in 2008, and some are talking of incredible starts to 2009,” he says. “However, because of the overriding market conditions, as well as previous expansion, few are looking to build their teams to any significant degree. Some don’t have headcount approval, while others are awaiting sign-off for recruitment plans for the first half of the year. The majority of hiring will be selective upgrading.”

Elliott Pickering, senior consultant at specialist energy and commodities recruiter Human Capital, confirms this verdict on the market.

“A number of the more established firms will opportunistically recruit high performers who find themselves on the market through recent cutbacks. However, mediocre people will struggle to find new positions,” he says.

There may be opportunities outside of the bulge brackets, reckons Chrispin.

“Trading houses are largely continuing in the same vein as last year, with steady levels of recruitment. What’s more, a number of lower tier banks are able to target higher quality people who have come on to the market, which they would have struggled to do previously,” he says.

Recent lower tier banks to make senior commodities appointments include Spanish bank BBVA, and Japanese firm Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi.