Commodities are the fuel of life.  In recent time, investors have been turning their attention to Commodity Futures given its various inherent trading advantages and characteristics. For example, Precious Metals have always been considered as a Store of Value in times of uncertainty and inflation.  A rapidly increasing global population and shrinking arable land are slowly increasing the demand while reducing the supply of agricultural products. In addition, erratic weather is increasing the short term volatility in supply. Think you can correctly estimate the direction of such commodities?

Most individual commodities are traded in the form of futures, whereby what is being traded is not the commodity itself but a contract to buy or sell it at a specified price by a specified date in the future.  Although this carries the potential for wild market fluctuations, it offers exciting opportunities for investors willing to ride out market volatility in anticipation of rewards.

• Agriculture
  • Beyond production and import/export, agricultural commodities are also traded on major exchanges around the world. Trading specialists trade billions of financial contracts every year globally from corns, soybeans, oats to coffee and sugar.

• Energy
  • Energy commodities range from crude oil, natural gas, kerosene, gasoline to gas oil.  As a whole, energy is one of the largest volume commodity group traded in the world and it is also one of the most volatile.  Trading in the energy markets is offered around the clock through ICE, NYMEX and TOCOM.

• Metals
  • Metals are valuable as they are used as raw materials in key industries globally, such as automobile, construction and shipping.   Suppliers and consumers need to hedge their products against future price movements.  Metals can be classified into precious metals (for example, gold, silver, platinum) and base metals (for example, aluminium, copper, iron ore).