Commodity Derivatives 1st part

Introduction to derivatives

The origin of derivatives can be traced back to the need of farmers to protect themselves against fluctuations in the price of their crop. From the the time it was sown to the time it was ready for harvest, farmers would face price uncertainty. Through the use of simple derivative products, it was possible for the farmer to partially or fully transfer price risks by locking-in asset prices. These were simple contracts developed to meet the needs of farmers and were basically a means of reducing risk.

A farmer who sowed his crop in June faced uncertainty over the price he would receive for his harvest in September. In years of scarcity, he would probably obtain attractive prices. However, during times of oversupply, he would have to dispose off his harvest at a very low price. Clearly this meant that the farmer and his family were exposed to a high risk of price uncertainty.

On the other hand, a merchant with an ongoing requirement of grains too would face a price risk - that of having to pay exorbitant prices during dearth, although favourable prices could be obtained during periods of oversupply. Under such circumstances, it clearly made sense for the farmer and the merchant to come together and enter into a contract whereby the price of the grain to be delivered in September could be decided earlier. What they would then negotiate happened to be a futures-type contract, which would enable both parties to eliminate the price risk.

In 1848, the Chicago Board of Trade, or CBOT, was established to bring farmers and merchants together. A group of traders got together and created the 'to-arrive' contract that permitted farmers to lock in to price upfront and deliver the grain later. These to-arrive contracts proved useful as a device for hedging and speculation on price changes. These were eventually standardised, and in 1925 the first futures clearing house came into existence.

Today, derivative contracts exist on a variety of commodities such as corn, pepper, cotton, wheat, silver, etc. Besides commodities, derivatives contracts also exist on a lot of financial underlyings like stocks, interest rate, exchange rate, etc.