Valuable grain: Wheat from Mecklenburg-West Pomerania
Image: dpa
Those who speculate with wheat are not to blame for world hunger. Those who invest can even make the world a little bit better.
Sspeculators are generally considered evil. You can see it quite clearly right now, as they are allegedly enriching themselves from the war in Ukraine because they are speculating on expensive gas and oil and scarce wheat. Because of their greed, it is said, the poor people in Africa will soon have to starve because they can no longer afford their daily bread. Incidentally, at other times when the price of wheat has plummeted, speculators are accused of ruining the livelihoods of smallholders who can no longer live off the low prices.
The contradiction shows that the discussion is one-sided. Unilaterally against the speculators. They’re always the bad guys. Making commodities tradable on exchanges has many advantages. For example, farmers can already secure the selling price for their wheat in two years’ time and the mills their purchase price. This creates planning security. Appropriate futures contracts make this possible. Financial actors ensure liquidity on the markets, i.e. the tradability of the contracts. You take a risk and can lose or win money.