Living Life Abundantly

With global agricultural prices looking set for long term increases, sugar commodity trading offers the trader or investor keen for exposure to commodities as an asset class some great opportunities. Just consider in 1974 sugar prices spiked over 60 cents a pound and in 1981 by over 40 cents a pound as the 1970′s commodity bull market ended. And in 2009 commodities in general and sugar commodity prices in particular are advancing strongly again. The serious 2008 world economic slowdown is now giving way to strong recovering markets and sugar commodity prices are at their highest for 28 years.

There are numerous cases of serious sugar shortages as desperate consumers across Asia queue for small quantities of this key commodity. To think that while in 2007 India was a major exporter of sugar, with a surplus of five million tons, but from 2009 the country is a net importer. So what has caused this serious imbalance between world sugar demand and supply? After the shock of the global economic crisis, the US dollar is falling against other currencies and hopes of a strong rebound are causing real asset prices to be driven higher. Add in the weak monsoon season in India and very unhelpful weather for sugar plantations in Brazil, impacting adversely on sugar yields, and the result is raw sugar prices heading for a high of 25 cents a pound.

Preparing for your sugar commodity trading analysis, find out where sugar comes from, in what forms and consider the recent phenomenon that threatens to change the dynamics of global sugar commodity markets in future. Between 75-80% of sugar comes from sugarcane, produced in over 100 countries globally, largely from the tropical and sub-tropical areas of the southern hemisphere. Rainfall is important for successful crop yields, with ideally around 600 mm needed annually. In addition to bad weather, crop infestation due to pests is another variable causing a rise in sugar prices on world commodity exchanges.

Leading the pack of top producing nations is Brazil, also the largest global exporter, followed by India, China, the EU, USA and Australia. A major distorting factor in world sugar markets is subsidy regimes in the US and Europe, as they artificially drive prices higher than the world sugar price. In addition to its traditional uses in bread fermentation and in fruit and vegetable products, sugar is now increasingly used as a source of ethanol fuel.

In 2007 there was a very tight balance between supply and demand, a situation almost certain to worsen as demand is expected to surge in developing Asia, particularly in BRIC nations like China and India. The largest consumer in the world is India, which is allocating far more sugar for ethanol as an alternative fuel. The world’s third largest consumer and producer is China, and it is starting from a very low base of only 7kg per annum per capita consumption compared to USA per capita consumption of 45kg per annum.

You will help your sugar commodity trading strategy by getting to know about the Brazilian market, the largest world producer. This country’s strategy is to avoid a sugar glut by taking any surplus sugarcane crop to produce ethanol for biodiesel for export and domestic consumption. More sugar is being channelled for ethanol as crude oil prices rise, along with sugar demand surges in China. There are major challenges for sugar producers going forward, given the likely high crude oil prices in future coupled with growing demand, seeing sugar prices remaining high.

With your chosen commodity trading system and advice from your professional financial adviser, you can trade from almost anywhere in the world with good internet access. #11 Raw sugar futures is the most heavily traded sugar futures contract in the world, available on the ICE US Futures platform as is the #16 Sugar futures contract. Alternatively, you can trade raw sugar futures on LIFFE CONNECT, the trading platform of LIFFE, part of the NYSE Euronext Group. Also look at soft commodity indexes using an ETF which may not involve taking a leveraged position. With the growth in bio ethanol demand and sugar consumption in the BRIC economies, prospects for sugar prices and sugar commodity trading look very exciting in the years ahead.

The author, Marianna Gomes, pens articles on soft commodities to the Commodity Trading Today website, a helpful informational resource. Learn more about how you could benefit from sugar commodity trading here. Grab a totally unique version of this article from the Uber Article Directory

With a UN food agency report suggesting global food production needs to rise by over 70% by 2050, coffee commodity trading offers the keen trader some great opportunities to make profitable trades. Over the years coffee has been the most actively traded commodity after crude oil, and so inevitably changes in coffee futures prices are watched closely, especially as sudden weather changes can impact on crop yields. Coffee beans are grown in most countries between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, that is tropical and sub-tropical regions, and so good levels of rainfall are important for this popular commodity.

Climate is crucial for success in achieving good yields as well as having an optimum temperature range of between 17 and 23 centigrade and favourable soil conditions. A recent Cafedirect report showed the gradual damage caused to coffee farmers in developed countries. One clear impact of rising temperatures is coffee growers needing to move to higher altitudes. Another effect is more disease caused by pests due to the temperature rises. The climate change challenge is significant to coffee growers because the beans can only grow properly in a relatively narrow temperature range.

The main two varieties of any real economic significance to those following coffee commodity trading are Arabica and Robusta, both actively traded futures on major world commodity exchanges. The US is the biggest world consumer and importer of coffee, while the largest producer Brazil, produced almost 34 million (29% global output) 60-kg bags of coffee in 2007/8, mainly Arabica. The next biggest producer is Vietnam with a 15% world share at 17.50 m bags (Robusta), while Columbia was third with 12.40 m bags (Arabica) and an 11% share, and Indonesia was fourth largest producer in 2007/8 with 7.0 m bags.

Arabica, which represents about 70% green coffee bean production, is grown in warm, humid climates at altitudes above 4,000 ft, and this combined with the soil conditions helps it achieve its characteristic aromatic flavour. Arabica is mainly grown in the high altitudes of Latin America, such as Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador and Columbia. One of the best grades of Arabica coffee in Brazil is Santos, where the beans are picked within the first 4 years of the coffee tree’s life. Normally with Arabica there is a long lead time of 4-5 years, while with the lower quality Robusta, grown in South East Asia, the beans are picked after 2-3 years.

With a drought crop yields fall and this hits supply, which can lead to coffee futures prices rising. Higher prices can also arise from lower crop yields caused by higher than normal rainfall. Freezing conditions can adversely affect crops for both current and the following year, which can be a real problem for Arabica varieties grown in the higher altitudes of Latin America. According to data, over recent years southern hemisphere growers have experienced serious freezing once in every six years in winter (June to August) months. All these various factors need to be weighed up by the coffee commodity trading observer before they commit to trades.

The appearance of white blossom on coffee trees points to the first stages in coffee bean growth, after which over a period of between two weeks to 6-9 months green cherries appear, eventually becoming red and then black cherries. Each cherry holds two coffee beans. Most coffee production uses the “dry” method where cherries are stripped off the tree. Then the green beans are dried and graded, ready for shipping and roasting. On average about 2,000 cherries (4,000 beans) yield a pound of coffee.

You are no doubt excited to start your coffee commodity trading activities, so before you take some potentially profitable trades make sure you choose a broker with an accessible electronic trading platform. The Arabica benchmark on ICE Futures US is the Coffee “C” futures contract, and you can also get exposure to Robusta futures contracts through the exchange. Should you want to trade only soft commodities but not as futures, you have the option to use an agricultural ETF which tracks a soft commodity index. Using these various derivative and investment vehicles, the trader has some good options for gaining exposure to these exciting coffee commodity trading markets.

The author, Marianna Gomes, focuses on soft commodities and pens articles for a practical website ontrading commodities. Discover more about how you could benefit from coffee commodity trading tips here. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service

categories: commodities,trading,markets