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I Managing market volatility is as important as growing a good crop when it comes to securing the best OSR margins, Gleadell trading manager Jonathan Lane told the conference.
He left the audience in no doubt about how much volatility they faced. In each of the past eight years the price of the August oilseed rape contract on the MATIF futures exchange had swung, from top to bottom, by an average of euro135/t.
"These swings are huge," he said. "It shows how much markets have changed. When I started in this business 15 years ago a 50p or £l/t move in a day was quite a big thing. It is nothing now - we sometimes see markets move £10-15/t.
"The amount of risk and volatility that farmers are exposed to has changed significantly. We need to think about how we change our plans to manage these changing markets."
GleadelTs minimum price oilseed rape contract would help growers manage extreme volatility, he said. "It allows you to lock into a minimum base price, to protect against any falls in the market, but capture any upside move over...