The last few years have been a watershed for the commodities, cash and derivatives industry. New regulations and products have led to an explosion in the commodities markets, creating a new asset for investors that includes hedge funds as well as University endowments, and has resulted in a spectacular growth in spot and derivative trading.

This book covers hard and soft commodities (energy, agriculture and metals) and analyses: Economic and geopolitical issues in commodities marketsCommodity price and volume riskStochastic modelling of commodity spot prices and forward curvesReal options valuation and hedging of physical assets in the energy industry

It is required reading for energy companies and utilities practitioners, commodity cash and derivatives traders in investment banks, the Agrifood business, Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) and Hedge Funds.

In "Commodities and Commodity Derivatives," Helyette Geman shows her powerful command of the subject by combining a rigorous development of its mathematical modelling with a compact institutional presentation of the arcane characteristics of commodities that makes the complex analysis of commodities derivative securities accessible to both the academic and practitioner who wants a deep foundation and a breadth of different market applications. It is destined to be a "must have" on the subject."
--Robert Merton, Professor, Harvard Business School

"A marvelously comprehensive book of interest to academics and practitioners alike, by one of the world's foremost experts in the field."
--Oldrich Vasicek, founder, KMV

A comprehensive resource for understanding the complexities of agricultural finance Agricultural Finance: From Crops to Land, Water, and Infrastructure is a pioneering book that offers a comprehensive resource for understanding the worldwide agriculture markets, from spikes in agricultural commodity prices to trading strategies, and the agribusiness industry generally to the challenges of feeding the planet in particular. The book also goes in-depth on the topics of land, water, fertilizers, biofuels, and ethanol. Written by Helyette Geman an industry expert in commodity derivatives this book explores the agricultural marketplace and the cycles in agricultural commodity prices that can be the key to investor success. This resource addresses a wide range of other important topics as well, including agricultural insurance, energy, shipping and bunker prices, sustainability, investments in land, subsidies, agricultural derivatives, and farming risk-management. Other topics covered include structured products and agricultural commodities ETFs; trade finance in an era of credit shortage; securitization and commodity-linked notes; grains: wheat, corn, soybeans; softs: coffee, cocoa, cotton; shipping as a key component of agricultural trade; and the major agricultural shipping routes and the costs. The book: * Offers the first comprehensive resource that deals with the all aspects of agricultural finance * Includes information that is crucial for pension funds, asset managers, hedge funds, agribusiness corporates, CTAs and regulators * Covers a range of topics from agricultural bunker prices, futures, options to major shipping routes and the costs This text is a must-have resource for accessing the information required to trade successfully in the agricultural marketplace.

Commodities represent today the fastest growing markets worldwide. Historically misunderstood, generally under- studied and under- valued, certainly under- represented in the literature, commodities are suddenly receiving the attention they deserve.

Bringing together some of the best authors in the field, this book focuses on the risk management issues associated with both soft and hard commodities: energy, weather, agriculturals, metals and shipping. Taking the reader through every part of the commodities markets, the authors discuss the intricacies of modelling spot and forward prices, as well as the design of new Futures markets. The book also looks at the use of options and other derivative contract forms for hedging purposes, as well as supply management in commodity markets. It looks at the implications for climate policy and climate research and analyzes the various freight derivatives markets and products used to manage shipping and freight risk in a global commodity world.

It is required reading for energy and mining companies, utilities' practitioners, commodity and cash derivatives traders in investment banks, CTA's and hedge funds