February is Weather Market Month

摘要

Here are five ways to fine-tune your risk-management plan this year. February used to be a good month to take a week or two off, if you were in the grain business. For most of the last three decades, prices would usually grind lower in low-volume range-bound trade. Since 2005, however, this has completely changed. Now, February is a very important month if you are selling grain or if you need to be buying grain. Brazil is projected to produce more soybeans than the U.S. this year, and the total SouthAmerican crop is now about 80% larger than what grew in the U.S. in 2012. For farmers in South America, February is like the month of August for North American farmers. This is when the soybean crop can be made or lost. As I drive to work in snowy Minnesota during the month of February, I am often talking with customers in Brazil. In a global market, February is one of the big weather months of the year.