Corn is also one of the most important foodstuffs in the world, especially in some African and Latin American countries. There is about one-third of the world’s population today uses corn kernels as their main food.
As the earliest types of futures, the agricultural products futures account for a large proportion of commodity futures. At present, the volume of agricultural products trades is the largest and steadily increasing, accounting for about 43% of the total volume of commodity transactions, far higher than the scale of energy and metal commodity futures trading. The scale of corn futures trading has been ranked second in the international commodity futures market. The industrial demand for corn is large, its price fluctuations are relatively stable, the industrial chain is long, the number of participating enterprises is large, and the scope of influence is wide, which make the enterprises risk avoiding and investment demand are relatively strong. The seasonal volatility of the corn itself makes the corn extremely attractive and has become an evergreen tree for investment in the international futures market. With the emergence of institutional clients, especially commodity funds, and the entry of financial institutions in the future, this characteristic of agricultural products will also be favored by these institutional investors.
The main producers of corn are the United States, China, Brazil and so on. Among them, the United States is the largest producer, accounting for 40-50% of global production and it is the largest exporter. Therefore, changes in the US corn situation will affect the global corn price.
The corn growing season is the sowing period from May to June of each year, and its harvesting period is from September to November. Its prices are usually lower at harvest (October-December), and as stocks diminish, prices gradually rise to late summer.
Factors affecting prices:
Climate of origin
Seasonal factors
Climatic conditions
Squeezing corn profit
Substitute
Government agriculture policy
The advantages of corn trading:
Price discovery
Manage price risks associated with buying and selling corn products
Hedging and spread trading opportunities associated with other grains, oilseeds, livestock and ethanol
Transparent market with abundant liquidity
