LibGuides: International Trading Programme: Commodities

About

This page consolidates all resources related to commodities including finding analysis on Bloomberg, research papers from various recognised commissions and report repositories, a glossary of terms used in commodity research, data on futures, company, exchange, and price information.

Access to some of the links on this page have been provided by NTU Library and requires your log in using your Network ID and password. If you have any questions regarding access to these resources or need further help, do drop us an email.

Analysis

Some useful codes to use within Bloomberg:

CCRV for Commodity Curve Analysis
CPFC for Commodity Price Forecasts
FDM for Commodity Fundamentals
GLCO for Global Commodity Prices
Press the CMMDTY button for more functions and content such as the indices
You can also get the MSCI commodity data for the producers' index, agriculture and food chain index and the energy industry

Useful links to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (FTC):

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Research Papers
The Office of the Chief Economist produces original research papers on a broad range of topics relevant to the CFTC’s mandate to foster open, transparent, competitive, and financially sound markets in U.S. futures, option on futures, and U.S. swaps markets.
White Papers
The Office of the Chief Economist and CFTC economists produce original analysis on a broad range of topics relevant to the CFTC’s mandate to regulate commodity future markets, commodity option markets and the expanded mandate to regulate the swaps markets pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Commitments of Traders (COT)
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or CFTC) publishes the Commitments of Traders (COT) reports to help the public understand market dynamics. Specifically, the COT reports provide a breakdown of each Tuesday’s open interest for futures and options on futures markets in which 20 or more traders hold positions equal to or above the reporting levels established by the CFTC.
Weekly Swaps Report
The CFTC Swaps Report aggregates a comprehensive body of swap market data that was not previously reported to regulators or regulated entities, and makes that information freely available in a form that is readily usable by both market participants and the general public.
Cotton On-Call
The Cotton On-Call Report shows the quantity of call cotton bought or sold on which the price has not been fixed, together with the respective futures on which the purchase or sale is based. Call cotton refers to physical cotton bought or sold, or contracted for purchase or sale at a price to be fixed later based upon a specified delivery month future’s price.
Net Position Changes Data
The Large Trader Net Position Changes and the Trading Account Net Position Changes data provides the public with a view of the amount of trading that results in net changes to positions at the trader level and at the account level. The data reflects trading that changes or creates an end-of-day position, as contrasted with trading that does not change a trader’s end-of-day net position, such as spread or day trading.
Learning Resources
The CFTC’s Office of Consumer Outreach continually strives to provide effective information and tools to help consumers avoid fraud. Below are some helpful resources on these topics.

Commodity Terms

AGROVOC
AGROVOC is a controlled vocabulary covering all areas of interest of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, including food, nutrition, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, environment etc.
Mineral Commodity Summaries
Published on an annual basis, data sheets contain information on the domestic industry structure, Government programs, tariffs, and 5-year salient statistics for over 90 individual minerals and materials.

Companies

In Osiris, go to Industry > Industry classifications. Select a type of industry classification that you want to use and use word(s) to do a search and click on OK to run the search. You have to click on View List of Results to see the companies and select company(s) to get their data.

Futures

Quandl
Quandl is a site providing open source futures data.

S&P Capital IQ
S&P Capital IQ provides an array of financial data, analytics and research. It combines deep information on companies, markets and people worldwide with robust tools for analysis, idea generation and workflow management. You can also find commodity future contracts and forecasts here.
Note that you will have to request for a login account. Please email: act@ntu.edu.sg
NOTE:
1) For new users, an S&P Capital IQ account will be auto-created upon login with the link above using your NTU email address
2) To access S&P Capital IQ Excel Office Plug-in, login and go to the “My Capital IQ” tab and select “Downloads”. Refer to this user guide for Capital IQ Excel Plug-in Instructions. Available to current NTU staff and students only.

Available to current NTU staff and students only.

In the Markets tab, click on Commodities.

In the Futures section, select the commodity and exchange you require:

In the Forecast section, see the estimates by clicking on a commodity link:

Exchanges

Minneapolis Grain Exchange
Since its inception in 1881, MGEX has been the principal market for Hard Red Spring Wheat (HRSW) – first as a cash market, then futures and options.
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)
The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is an independent exchange for wholesale trades in commodities. It has about 2,300 securities in the agricultural, energy, freight, metals, physical energy and US environmental sectors, and provides provides data on their swap trades. In the Reports section (Menu > Markets > ICE Report Center), there is historical data from 2007 onwards – depending on the commodity.

Prices

World Bank
The World Bank provides historical and current prices, forecasted prices, and economic analysis of commodities markets.
International Monetary Fund
In the IMF site, you can get the primary commodity prices.
World Trade Organisation (WTO) Documents Online
WTO's Documents Online provides documents, including legal texts, of the agreements regarding trade in commodities.
United Nations Conference on Trade and Develop Statistics
UNCTAD STAT provides long term price trends from 1960s onwards.
Resources for TR Eikon
These training resources can guide you on how to make use of Thomson Reuters Eikon database.
Eikon terminals are available in the Business Library and you can book them here.