Nex York, Oct 14 - Investors have been selling commodities to reduce risk and raise cash, a process known as deleveraging, amid the global financial crisis.
Commodities attracted huge inflows of speculative money earlier this year as a hedge against a weak U.S. dollar and inflation.
At end-June, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) put the value of index-linked commodity futures and options at around $200 billion. By July, a six-year rally in commodities had appeared to hit its peak as prices of oil and various raw materials struck record highs due to inflationary pressure and demand from growing economies like China.
Since August, the trend has reversed and commodities have given back almost all of their 2008 gains -- some were even down for the year -- as the global credit crisis worsened. Barclays Capital estimates that assets under management in commodities fell $60 billion in value in the third quarter.
Following are CFTC figures on the net long, or bullish, and net short, or bearish, positions held by noncommercial investors or speculators in 14 key commodities for the week ended Oct. 7 compared with Sept. 30. There is also a comparison of open interest -- the total number of contracts not closed or delivered on a particular day -- during that period.
NET SPECULATOR POSITION
Oct 7 Sept 30 Pct change
Crude Oil 3,690 (long) 40,093 (long) - 90.8
RBOB Gasoline 21,177 (long) 21,079 (long) + 0.5
Heating Oil 7,440 (long) 8,892 (long) - 16.3
Natural Gas 175,893 (short) 177,606 (short) - 1.0
Gold 111,613 (long) 117,786 (long) - 5.2
Silver 17,099 (long) 18,336 (long) - 6.7
Copper 18,799 (short) 16,169 (short) + 16.3
Cocoa 4,235 (long) 7,936 (long) - 46.6
Sugar 11,413 (long) 43,005 (long) - 73.5
Coffee 17,017 (short) 3,406 (short) +399.6
Cotton 10,028 (short) 9,960 (short) + 0.7
Corn 73,297 (long) 98,244 (long) - 25.4
Wheat 11,850 (short) 8,560 (short) + 38.4
Soybeans 37,754 (long) 35,431 (long) + 6.6
OPEN INTEREST
Oct 7 Sept 30 Pct change
Crude Oil 1,087,569 1,092,411 - 0.4
RBOB Gasoline 163,241 170,701 - 4.4
Heating Oil 208,439 203,017 + 2.7
Natural Gas 878,959 881,561 - 0.3
Gold 329,480 336,598 - 2.1
Silver 99,883 103,812 - 3.8
Copper 80,024 78,214 + 2.3
Cocoa 134,137 137,900 - 2.7
Sugar 957,222 979,169 - 2.2
Coffee 211,850 194,219 + 9.1
Cotton 343,138 359,892 - 4.7
Corn 1,728,906 1,685,800 + 2.6
Wheat 415,737 402,722 + 3.2
Soybeans 575,501 555,265 + 3.6