Commodity Conversations: An Introduction to Trading in Agricultural Commodities

by Jonathan Kingsman

This book is aimed at all those who want to learn about the world of trading in agricultural students, legislators, regulators and journalists. It is a mix of explanatory text and interviews with experienced market farmers, physical traders, hedge fund managers, regulators and sustainability professionals.

Genres: Business

219 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 22, 2017

Reviews

[Jorge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating, insightful and entertaining

A fascinating and extremely insightful book.
It is engaging, easy to read and very informative. I have learned a lot about the commodity trading industry.
I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand and learn about this all-important industry.

[Ferhat Elmas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice intro to agricultural commodity trading. Interviews with experts are very educating but chapter explanations are a bit dry.

[Tiago Irineu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introduction to commodity trading, with insightful interviews

This book is for a person that wants to learn commodity trading. It is a combination of an introductory manual enriched with interviews with practitioners. It is an easy and insightful reading.

The book's chapters are divided in two parts: First, the author clearly explain one key aspect of commodity trading. Such as the common market structures or how derivatives are used for hedging by traders. (Spoiler alert: Commodity traders usually aren't worried about the quoted price of the commodities). Besides this explanatory part, all chapters close with interviews with relevant members of commodity markets. These interviews are a good opportunity for learning about the trajectory of some key players in the industry and what they are thinking about contemporary issues.

Recommended reading for commodities students.

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

For someone like me, who wants to break into the commodity space, this was a really nice book. Accessible, consice but with the necessary breadth to explain concepts. the interviews within the book abaput actual trade participants reveal how one can think about the entire supply chain/who faces which intensives. If you want to get a broad history of commodites, I would recommend The world for Sale, not this one. but for agriculture, this book accurately maps out the landscape and still holds up even years after being first published.

[Coney Islander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bit short on the sustainability issue, but a highly readable introduction to the functioning of several commodity markets.

[Augusto Abati · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book to those interested in agri commodities. Each chapter works as a short description of a specific market.

[Yun · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's quite interesting book because very few book discuss about agriculture commodity. And I could get familiar with basic terms and concept thorough this book. I appreciated that for the author.

But I think some arguments made by the author are more theoretical, like an economist explaining why blah blah in theory, therefore it would be too in real world.