By Hamid Waleed -

LAHORE: The sugar trader and investors are in a fix over their future contracts and market derivatives as rising supply of the commodity and consequently receding price have exposed them to losses.

The situation emerged after excessive deals on future counters were witnessed lately whereas government’s permission for unlimited duty free import of sugar and both the factors led to a glut of sugar thereby arresting rising sugar prices in the open market, although still higher than a desirable level.

by Brian Hoops -

If you ask a room full of active and inactive (those who have lost all of their money) commodity traders which skill is the most important in becoming a successful trader, the answers would represent, to a great degree, the weaknesses of those present.

I would guess that the most common response would have to do with picking the right trades at the right time. If it was so easy as to do nothing but pick only winning trades, what else is there to worry about? In reality, no matter how brilliant you are, if you are going to trade commodity futures, you are going to have losing trades.

March 29 (Bloomberg) -- The surge in commodity prices may be close to peaking, ending a four-year rally that included a range of raw materials from oil to copper to gold, said Daniel Chesler, an independent analyst who studies market patterns.

The Goldman Sachs Commodity Index has failed to top the record it reached in October, gold is down from a 16-year high in December and the dollar has rebounded from a record low against the euro, Chesler, 38, said in a telephone interview yesterday from Wellington, Florida.

By Brad Foss -

WASHINGTON (AP) - Oil prices fell Monday as traders took profits in a continuation of last week's downward trend.

After dipping as low as $53.60 US, light, sweet crude futures for May delivery settled 79 cents lower at $54.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That's more than $3.50 a barrel below the intraday high of $57.60 set on March 17.

By Tim Wood -

NEW YORK (ResourceInvestor.com) -- Ah, how quickly things get nasty when money is involved. Right on cue the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee has responded to criticism of one of its “evidences” for a gold price conspiracy by playing the man rather than the ball.

Let’s reprise this nonsense: GATA distributed a press release claiming that the ratio of the gold price to the CRB Futures Index in 1980 is a bellwether by which to judge today’s gold prices. Because the ratio of 2005 is dissimilar with that of 1980, GATA asserts that it is “powerful evidence of surreptitious intervention by central banks in the gold market”.

Bloomberg News -

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the biggest U.S. futures market, handled a record 1.5 million Eurodollar options contracts Wednesday, as traders used them to bet on changes in borrowing costs.

The exchange also had record electronic trading of interest-rate futures and options, with 2.1 million contracts changing hands on Wednesday, the exchange said in an e-mailed statement. Eurodollar contracts gauge expectations for three-month U.S. interest rates.

by Agriwatch -

Brazil's Mercantile & Futures Exchange (BM&F) will launch a soybean futures contract aimed at China and is in talks with the country's largest commodity futures exchange about listing the product there as well.

It also shows how China is embracing derivatives markets as a way of protecting against price swings as they ramp up purchases of commodities around the world.

By Victoria Sizemore Long -

Kansas City wheat and Chicago wheat and soybean futures closed higher Tuesday in a technical rebound from recent losses.

Chicago corn futures declined.

Kansas City Value Line stock-index futures also fell.

By Lynn Moore -

Coffee sold on grocery shelves and in workplace dispensers is going up in price as coffee roasters offset surging futures prices caused in part by speculators, bean counters say.

But the jack in java may not immediately be felt in gourmet coffee shops, where the cost of what is poured into the cup is relatively minor, industry officials said yesterday.

Commodity Traders have a great opportunity to enter India where 4 national exchanges have becoming active in the last 18 months and the cumulative trading on the exchanges has crossed USD 1.2 billion a day within this short period. Refco is already in India along with several others multinational broking firms.

I am publishing this message on behalf of Indian Agribusiness Systems Ltd.(www.agriwatch.com) This organisation is the largest information player in the commodities business in India and its services in India include Information Services, Consulting Services and Audio Visual Services.

BARCELONA, Spain--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 17, 2005--At its Annual General Meeting today, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) announced the results of its Year-End 2004 Market Survey of privately negotiated derivatives. According to the Survey, the notional amount for credit derivatives grew by almost 55 per cent in the last six months of the year to $8.42 trillion from $5.44 trillion. This represents an annual growth rate of 123%. Credit derivatives, for the purposes of the Survey, comprise credit default swaps, baskets and portfolio transactions. In the first six months of 2004, credit derivatives growth was 44 per cent.

Serving the Futures Industry Since 1934

It was 1933, the country was in the depth of the Depression, and the United States had just gone off the gold standard. At a value of $0.59 compared to the pre-devalued dollar, capital began flowing back into the country and trading activity in stocks, bonds, and commodity futures was beginning to show some life. Nevertheless, traders and those interested in commodities found very few sources of comprehensive information were available to them.

An excerpt from the book "Hot Commodities" (view image) by Jim Rogers -

The next new thing is - things.

A new bull market is underway, and it's in commodities - the "raw materials," "natural resources," "hard assets," and "real things" that are the essentials of not just your life but the lives if everyone in the world. Every time you walk into the supermarket of mall, you're surrounded by commodities that are traded around the world. When you get in your car or truck, you are surrounded by other widely traded commodities. Without the commodities "futures market" to set and regulate prices, the things we all need in life would be scarce and often too expensive. These essentials include oil, natural gas, wheat, corn, soy-beans, aluminum, copper, silver, gold, cattle, hogs, pork bellies, sugar, coffee, cocoa, rice, wool, rubber, lumber, and the 80 or so other things listed in the traders' bible, the Commodity Research Bureau (CRB) Yearbook.

By Jane Bussey -

CLEWISTON - The heavy odor of molasses hangs over the glistening modern sugar refinery and the aging processing mill that traditionally signified the sweet smell of success for United States Sugar Corp.

Now to survive tough global competition, the country's largest sugar cane producer must slash jobs and spend millions on a new processing mill.

Financial volume reaches US$ 6.7 billion

BM&F’s Foreign Exchange Clearinghouse reached record volume on March 3rd, with US$ 6.7 billion. Currently, the Clearinghouse, which completes three years of activities next April, settles approximately 90% of Brazil’s foreign exchange interbank market.

Based on the experience it acquired with the FX Clearinghouse, BM&F is elaborating, in conjunction with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a project to create a foreign exchange clearinghouse to settle the flow of currencies used in commercial operations between Latin American countries – called the Câmara Interamericana de Compensação (CICOM). The new clearinghouse will begin by settling currencies in commercial transactions between Brazil and Argentina, being later extended to other countries in the region. The CICOM will begin operations this year.

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 10, 2005--Gold's failure to keep up with exploding commodity prices, as it did during the last commodities boom in 1980, is more powerful evidence of surreptitious intervention by central banks in the gold market, the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee said today.

Drawing on the work of its consultant, Dan Norcini, a futures trader in Houston, GATA compared 1980 monthly closing levels of the Commodity Research Bureau Index with the monthly closing spot gold price at the time.

By Jon Sarche -

When a rumor hit the commodities trading floor in Chicago three years ago that Kansas cattle had contracted foot-and-mouth disease, prices plummeted.

A rumor that lasted only a day cost the beef industry an estimated $50 million and forced agriculture officials to spend weeks assuring consumers that the food supply was safe.

With this case and others like it in mind, lawmakers across the country are working on ways to keep livestock-disease investigations secret until absolutely necessary.

By Tim Wood -

TORONTO (ResourceInvestor.com) -- Exactly two years ago, Mitsui Metals analyst cum gold bug pincushion, Andy Smith, distributed a delightful note to clients speculating about the possibility of Warren Buffet being invested in gold. Smith may have been more right than he realized.

The coke chugging, burger bolting chairman of Berkshire Hathaway has just told his investors that they were exposed to 12 currencies through $21.4 billion worth of foreign exchange contracts. What is not clear is if Berkshire has placed gold within the broad description of "currency"; which would be an accurate appellation for the metal which has been tightly twinned with the euro for some time.

Editorial Review by David Siegfried -

It's the ultimate road trip View image. Legendary investor Jim Rogers and his fiancée travel to 116 countries in a custom-built four-wheel-drive bright yellow Mercedes. Over three years, they make their way through war zones, are guarded by military convoys, observe a fifty-million-person pilgrimage, eat disgusting food, put the car on barges for transport between countries, and have their lives threatened at every turn. As well as describing his adventures, Rogers has plenty to say about the economies and roads he encounters on his journey. (Naturally, he's driven on the best roads and the worst.) With his keen financial acumen, he picks out those countries with the highest prospective economic success and which ones are headed for disaster. All in all, a wonderful trip.

By Jane Bussey -

The International Trade Commission voted to continue an investigation of the Florida citrus industry complaint against Brazilian producers for alleged exports of low-priced citrus concentrates.

The Florida citrus industry passed the first of four hurdles in its trade fight with Brazilian orange producers when the International Trade Commission ruled Thursday that state growers were being harmed by the alleged import of citrus concentrates at below fair market prices.

By Ann Davis, The Wall Street Journal -

United Airlines, fighting intense financial pressure, decided in late 2003 it needed a better way to get fuel to its planes. To get that job done, it went to an unusual place: Morgan Stanley.

Now, employees of the bank scour the world for jet fuel for the airline. They charter barges, lease pipelines and schedule tanker trucks, delivering more than a billion gallons a year to United's hubs. They even send inspectors to make sure no one tampers with the stuff.

By Juan Forero -

Latin America is becoming a rich destination in China's global quest for energy, with the Chinese signing accords with Venezuela, investing in largely untapped markets like Peru and exploring possibilities in Bolivia and Colombia.

China's sights are focused mostly on Venezuela, which ships more than 60 percent of its crude oil to the United States. With huge oil reserves and a president who says that his country needs to diversify its energy business, Venezuela has emerged as an obvious contender for Beijing's attention.

By Hembree Brandon -

ARLINGTON, Va. — U.S. agricultural exports are forecast to hit $59 billion in fiscal 2005, down from the $62.3 billion level of 2004, but up $3 billion from USDA’s Nov. 2004 projection.

The decline from 2004 is due to record global grain, soybean, and cotton supplies, according to Nora Brooks and Carol Whitton, Economic Research Service coordinators, and Ernest Carter, Food and Agriculture Service coordinator. Their projections were presented at USDA’s Agricultural Outlook Forum 2005 here.