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How Commodity Trading and Commodity Markets are Changing

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Total views: 4 | Word Count: 683 | Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2009 | 0 comments

Global commodity trading now takes place on a growing platform of modern, transparent commodity exchanges across all time zones. Using agreed frameworks of rules and regulations and standard contract designs we now see a wide range of commodities traded between end users and primary producers. The result is that it is now much easier to buy and sell across the range of basic commodities from orange juice to gold bullion, from crude oil to coffee beans.

To add to the established commodity markets that most are familiar with, such as coffee and crude oil, now we are seeing developments and exciting innovation with the introduction of more specialised forms of futures contracts. A notable area where such product development is advancing is in the carbon emission market. Against a background of growing global awareness of the urgent need to abate emissions of greenhouse gases, the market for trading carbon permits is likely to see strong interest and growth going forward.

For the foreseeable future it is likely we will see continual growth of markets which place a price on the environment, with further development in emissions, plastics and perhaps even water. The basis of commodity trading activity is the buying and selling of futures contracts for a whole range of commodities. While the nickel or cocoa producer will use commodity futures contracts to hedge their future sales, commercial end users will also use these contracts for hedging against sudden spikes in prices.

The commodity markets rely on their liquidity from the speculators who are the major players, while commodity end users and primary producers are relatively minor actors who are hedging their operations. What are the key requirements of a futures contract? That it allows a trader to buy or sell a specified amount of a given commodity in the future, at a price fixed when the contract is exchanged and based on the demand and supply at that time.

Across the world time zones commodity traders are active in the markets either on the floor of the exchange, called open outcry, or using an electronic trading platform. Over recent years the volume of electronically traded futures contracts has increased markedly, as a number of exchanges have combined to form mega commodity exchanges.

Inevitably, with the access afforded by the internet, a combination of an accessible online trading software package and up to date market data, commodity trading has gradually become more available to the retail speculator, who will usually trade with smaller amounts of capital. Some traders will prefer to focus on a specific area of the commodities markets, while others look more at the price action and do not worry unduly about the fundamentals of supply and demand for raw materials or food.

With the opening up of the emerging market economies such as Brazil, Russia, India and China (or BRIC countries), we are likely to see a continuation of the growth in commodity markets in these nations. For example, Dalian Commodity Exchange in China has ambitious plans to develop beyond its current specialism in agricultural commodities, and move to industrial metals and more. While in the Middle East, Dubai is a growing financial centre and the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange has an interesting product range including WTI light, sweet crude oil, steel, plastics, gold and silver and the Indian Rupee.

The global credit crunch has had a profound impact on the world economy with growth being cut sharply and this has had knock-on effect on commodity prices and demand, with major companies and some economies being hit badly, yet as an asset class commodities seem unimpaired. If we look beyond the short term problems, the world economy will still need the major commodities like crude oil, iron ore, aluminium, and copper, as well as softs like sugar, cocoa and coffee, and the grains like soybean and rice. So looking ahead commodity markets will recover and the environment for commodity trading will be such that it will continue to be at the heart of world finance.

About the Author

The writer, William Davies, travels extensively across the globe, observes the exchanges and writes for Commodity Trading Today, an informational and educational resource on commodities markets. Secure your free Commodity Trading Alerts and news from the Commodity Universe Newsletter here.