MARKETS REPORTING - COMMODITIES

Global demand for commodities is rising rapidly and they have re-emerged as a potential financial investment. International trade agreements - or disagreements - are becoming a driving force in the foreign policy arena, from Europe’s agricultural subsidies to Brazil’s coffee exports. Adverse weather, transport disruptions and deteriorating security all impact this market. The course offers a basic understanding of traded commodity instruments, notably the futures contract, and participants will chart the impact on markets of a major political event.

Journalism skills addressed during the course

1. •News judgment
   

2. •Cultivating sources and obtaining exclusive stories
   

3. •Handling crop statistics and tenders
   

4. •Writing authoritative commodity market reports
   

5. •Interviews with market participants
   

6. •Writing accurate, balanced commodity stories quickly with solid context
   

7. •Writing good leads and headlines
   

8. •Knowledge of legal dangers.
   

Financial subjects addressed during the course

1. •Demand and supply relationship in physical commodities
   

2. •Futures contracts and options
   

3. •Contango and backwardation
   

4. •Metals, precious metals, softs and grains
   

5. •Impact of labour disputes and force majeure.
   

Course Objectives 

After completing the course, participants can expect to be able to:

1. •Produce a report on a commodities market
   

2. •Explain the use of the futures contract and other derivates
   

3. •List the main sources of supply and demand for major commodities
   

4. •Handle commodity tenders
   

5. •Write about trade talks.
   

Financial terms explained during the course

Physical, futures and options markets, grains, base/precious/minor metals production and use, key companies and producer/consumer nations, trade financing and handling costs, stocks, supply disruption, planting and harvest cycles, weather factors and other threats to crops, agricultural policy, shipping issues, force majeure, World Trade Organisation, international trade arrangements and negotiations.

Course Outline

Participants working in pairs write their way through a case study that traces the impact of a major development in the agriculture industry on commodity physical and futures markets. During this exercise, participants are introduced steadily to financial terms and, as a review, will be required to incorporate them as context into the evolving story. The pairs will switch alternately from writing market reports to covering the breaking story, improving their performance using feedback from experienced copy coaches. Learning reviews during the course ask participants in facilitated discussions to extract learning points from the output of all writers, including trainer versions, and they will be asked to build a personal action plan of post-course targets.

Pre-course work

Pre-course reading, learning agreements and a short evaluation to establish existing knowledge of commodity markets trading and international trade negotiations.