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Assets portfolios: Boom times for Agricultural commodities
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11 April 2011 |
The well-known British investment bank Barclays Capital recently released the information: As part of their assets management responsibilities, institutional investors seem to be increasingly opting to invest their funds in agricultural commodities.
In its annual “Institutional Investors Survey”, Barclays reported on investments made by assets management firms, such as hedge funds, pension funds and banks. Published at a London conference at the end of March, this year’s document discloses that portfolios are increasingly diversified and that interest for agricultural commodities is growing.
In an interview given to a British financial website, John Gracey, Director of Structured Products at Merchant Capital, commented, “Agricultural commodities are more attractive than metals or gold.” As agricultural prices keep soaring, investors are indeed taking a new look at their outlays in grain markets, which are considered as some of the most important among commodities.
Heiko Geiger, Head of Public Distribution for Germany and Austria at Bank Vontobel, goes even further when he says, “The approval rating of agricultural commodities is growing because investors are more informed regarding the potential of these assets, both in terms of portfolio diversification and in terms of thirst for financial speculation.” The term “speculation” is therefore clearly stated.
Today, this latest Barclays report represents one additional convincing argument proving that agricultural commodities have developed into particularly attractive assets for investors. Consequently, the experts, who keep asserting that speculation does not play a role in price volatility and their recorded levels, are mistaken. Regulation measures must therefore be implemented to curb short-term investors’ positions, which do not take place on physical markets, so that their harmful consequences be reduced. |
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Advocating for
agricultural market
regulation and global
food governance | |
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