Risk Management

By Max Fisher, Director of Economics and Government Relations NGFA helped organize and participated in a Feb. 7 meet-and-greet with Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) nominee Heath Tarbert, during which he discussed his views on hedging, high-frequency trading and user fees, among other topics. Tarbert currently is assistant secretary for international markets and investment policy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and on Jan. 9 was nominated by President Trump nominee to succeed current CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo when his term ends in April 2019. Prior to joining ... Read More

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced an updated release schedule for CFTC market data reports that were suspended during the federal government shutdown. CFTC suspended publication of its weekly Commitments of Traders report (COT), the weekly Cotton On Call report (COC), and the monthly Bank Participation Report (BPR) during the shutdown. The agency’s Division of Market Oversight’s Market Intelligence Branch said in a Jan. 29 announcement that it will begin publishing these reports again with the schedule below: COT: The last COT report was published on Dec. 21, ... Read More

By Todd Kemp, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Treasurer The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Jan. 20 issued final regulations for portions of Section 199A contained in the tax law signed into law in December 2017, and in doing so adopted NGFA recommendations regarding the “dealing in commodities” definition. Of particular concern to NGFA members not organized as C-corporations, the preliminary version of the new regulation – published as a proposed rule by the IRS last October – could have excluded certain non-C corporation taxpayers from qualifying for the new 20 percent ... Read More

The second annual Agricultural Commodity Futures Conference, jointly hosted by Kansas State University’s Center for Risk Management Education and Research and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), will be conducted April 11-12 in Overland Park, Kan.  NGFA members interested in attending can find additional information and can register for the conference here. A registration fee is assessed, and significant savings are available for those registering by April 1. The conference brings together federal, state and local governments with agribusiness and academia to discuss a ... Read More

President Donald Trump announced in December his intention to nominate Heath Tarbert, currently assistant secretary for international markets at the U.S. Treasury Department, to become chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) when current Chairman Christopher Giancarlo’s term expires in April. At Treasury, Tarbert oversees the department’s work on economic development, international financial stability, trade policy, energy and infrastructure projects, and technical assistance to foreign governments. Before joining the Treasury Department in October 2017, he was a partner ... Read More

By Todd Kemp, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Treasurer The NGFA’s Risk Management Committee on Nov. 7 provided feedback to the CME Group on its announced plan to increase the maximum storage rates for soymeal and soyoil receipts and certificates, effective on March 19, 2020, with the expiration of the March 2020 futures contracts. In its Oct. 31 announcement, CME said it intended to: Increase the maximum storage charges for the soybean oil futures contract from 3/10ths of 1 cent per 100 pounds per day to one-half (5/10ths) of 1 cent per 100 pounds per day. Increase the ... Read More

The CME Group on Oct. 31 announced plans to increase the maximum storage rates for soymeal and soyoil receipts and certificates, effective on March 19, 2020 with the expiration of the March 2020 futures contracts. Specifically, the maximum storage charges for the soybean oil futures contract would increase from 3/10ths of 1 cent per 100 pounds per day to one-half (5/10ths) of 1 cent per 100 pounds per day. Meanwhile, the maximum premium charges for the soybean meal futures contract would increase from 7 cents per ton per day to 12 cents per ton per day. The increases are designed to better ... Read More

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a report Oct. 18 on agricultural block trades, following up on a July 2018 report that analyzed agricultural block trading in the grains, oilseeds, and livestock markets at the CME. The NGFA Risk Management Committee met with CFTC staff the previous day to receive a briefing on report findings. The new report, published by the CFTC’s Market Intelligence Branch of the Division of Market Oversight, includes data for the time period starting Jan. 8, 2018, when CME launched block trading to the full suite of agricultural futures and options ... Read More