Hedging with futures contracts in the Brazilian soybean complex: BM&F vs. CBOT

This article analyzes the effectiveness of hedging Brazilian soy oil, soy meal, and soybeans in the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and in the Brazilian Commodities and Futures Exchange (BM&F) to reduce the risk of financial loss due to commodity price fluctuations. The econometric results show th...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Silva Andréia Regina O. da, Aguiar Danilo R. D., Lima João Eustáquio de
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural 2003-01-01
Series:Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-20032003000200004
Description
Summary:This article analyzes the effectiveness of hedging Brazilian soy oil, soy meal, and soybeans in the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and in the Brazilian Commodities and Futures Exchange (BM&F) to reduce the risk of financial loss due to commodity price fluctuations. The econometric results show that a cross-hedging strategy using the BM&F soybean futures contract is an instrument of low effectiveness for managing soy oil and soy meal price risk. Despite low effectiveness, the estimates demonstrate total advantage for soy meal hedging operations using CBOT soy meal futures contracts rather than cross-hedging using BM&F soybean futures contracts. With some exceptions, the results are also more favorable for hedging soy oil with soy oil futures contracts at the CBOT rather than cross hedging with soybeans at the BM&F. Conversely, Brazilian traders hedging soybeans receive more effective risk protection by trading soybean futures contracts at the BM&F than by trading soybean futures contracts at the CBOT.
ISSN:0103-2003