Support & Training
Course Detail
Overview of the Agricultural and Soft Commodity Markets -Classroom
This course held over two days is designed to provide an introduction to the agricultural and soft commodity markets: Grains, Wheat, Sugar, Cotton, Coffee, Cocoa and FCOJ. It will cover the driving forces behind the current markets and identifies the key factors to consider for future market developments. In addition it will also explore the main tools that can be used for trading these markets from both a risk management and speculative perspective.
The course is split into twelve teaching units over the two days.
All course payments must be received one day prior to the start date
The detail of each day's content is provided below.
Course Information
| Price | £1850.0 + VAT | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration | 2 days | ||
| Location | London | ||
| Available Dates |
|
Who Should Attend
- Personnel from the commodity market, trading companies and other individuals who wish to gain an understanding of commodity options and their uses
- Risk management and financial departments of commodity producer and commodity trading companies
- Commodity supply and distribution companies
- Major commodity consuming businesses
- Trading companies, banks, brokers, government, regulators and associated organisations
Booking Information
Course Content
Day One
Introduction
- Agricultural Markets in Perspective
o Staple v Luxury
o Agriculture Trading Patterns and Players
o Agriculture's Place in World Markets
Grains and Oils
-Grains and Oils - Corn, Wheat, Rice, Soybean
o Fundamentals - Crop to Table
o Crop Calendars
o Natural Threats
o World Production, Trade and Consumption
Managing Agriculture
-Essential Processes
o Milling
o Waste processing and bi-products
o Co-generation
-Enhancement Techniques
o Crop Rotation
o Genetic Modification
Biofuels
-Agriculture for Energy
o Gasoline and Diesel
o Processes
o Limitations
* EXERCISE - Crop Selection
Softs
-Cocoa, Coffee, Sugar
o Fundamentals -Crop to Table
o Crop Calendars
o Natural Threats
o World Production, Trade and Consumption
Evolution of Markets
-Trading Physical Commodities
o Specific v Generic Trading
o Operations
-Characteristics of different markets
o What makes a "good" market
-How markets work and behave
o Arbitrage
-Market Drivers
o Fundamental, Geopolitical, Technicals
Day Two
Other Agricultural Commodities
-Cotton. OJ, Palm Oil
o Fundamentals Crop to consumer
o Crop Calendars
o World Production, Trade and Consumption
Trading Markets
-Exchanges and Contracts
o Calendar structure
o Relationship to physical
o Liquidity
-Related Markets
o Freight
o Weather
Markets Review
-Price Histories
o Key Events
o Forward curve structure
-Related Markets
o Interaction with Energy Markets
-Focus on COVID and Ukraine
Trading & Risk Management
-Characterising and Quantifying Risk
o Long and Short
o Basis vs Outright risk
o Physical v Financial Exposure
-Trading Instruments
o Futures
o Swaps
o Options
-Modelling Financial Risk
o VaR
o Options
o Credit Risk
-Hedging physical positions with different instruments
o Exposure diagrams
* EXERCISE - Exposure Diagrams or Options
Future of Agriculture
-Population Growth
-Key Challenges
o Water
o Climate Change
o Competition for land
-Weather Modification
-Net-Zero 2050