Pricing and Marketing Terms

A forward price is the predetermined delivery price for an underlying commodity, currency or financial asset decided upon by the long (the buyer) and the short (the seller), to be paid at predetermined date in the future. At the inception of a forward contract, the forward price makes the value of the contract at that time, zero.

Free on board (FOB) is a trade term that indicates whether the seller or the buyer has liability for goods if the goods were damaged or destroyed during shipment between the two parties. ‘FOB shipping point’ (or origin) means that the buyer is at risk while the goods are shipped, and ‘FOB destination’ states that the seller retains the risk of loss until the goods reach the buyer.

Futures are financial contracts obligating the buyer to purchase, or the seller to sell, an asset, such as a physical commodity or a financial instrument, at a predetermined future date and price. Futures contracts detail the quality and quantity of the underlying asset, and are standardised to facilitate trading on a futures exchange. Some futures contracts may call for physical delivery of the asset (such as raw sugar), while others are settled in cash.

An entity, not the milling company to which the grower supplies cane, that markets a grower’s GEI Sugar.

Grower economic interest (GEI) Sugar is the proportion of sugar produced from the grower’s cane for which the grower bears the sale price exposure.

Grower choice is the ability of a grower to choose who markets the grower’s GEI Sugar. A grower may nominate a GEI Marketer to market all or some of his/her GEI Sugar. The grower’s milling company must attempt to negotiate an agreement with the GEI Marketer to deliver the marketer a quantity of sugar equal to the amount of GEI Sugar the grower has nominated to be marketed by the GEI Marketer.

A hedge is an investment to reduce the risk of adverse price movements in an asset. Normally, a hedge consists of taking an offsetting position in a related security, such as a futures contract. Hedging is like taking out an insurance policy – it reduces potential risk, at a cost.

The Sugar No. 11 contract is the world benchmark contract for raw sugar trading. The contract prices the physical delivery of raw cane sugar, free-on-board the receiver’s vessel to a port within the country of origin of the sugar.

The Sugar No. 16 contract serves the hedging needs of US sugar producers, end users and merchants. The contract prices physical delivery of US-grown (or foreign origin with duty paid by deliverer) raw cane sugar at one of five US refinery ports as selected by the receiver.

The international pol premium scale is a price adjustment scale, described in the Rules of the Sugar Association of London. It defines incremental price premiums applied to sugar of 96 degrees polarisation.

A factor used according to the International Polarisation Scale to convert tonnes actual (or metric tonnes) to tonnes IPS. The IPS Conversion Factor is determined by reference to the specifications of sugar supplied in a season.

Means that you have bought, or own, something and haven’t yet sold it.

Marketing relates to the physical movement of sugar to the customer. Marketing activities attract premiums, such as regional or quality premiums. Marketing and pricing elements, less the costs incurred in pricing and marketing the sugar, add up to the final price received by a grower.

Any sugar for a season produced from the cane supplied to Mackay Sugar for crushing which is not GEI Sugar, i.e. the sugar for which the miller bears the sale price exposure.

An agreement between a milling company and a GEI Marketer for the miller to sell to the GEI Marketer an amount of sugar equivalent to the GEI Sugar a grower wants marketed by the GEI Marketer.

Over-the-counter (OTC) is a security traded in some context other than on a formal exchange such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The phrase ‘over-the-counter’ can be used to refer to stocks that trade via a dealer network as opposed to on a centralised exchange. It also refers to debt securities and other financial instruments, such as derivatives, which are traded through a dealer network.

Sugar is priced using a futures contract (such as the ICE 11 or ICE 16) or other instrument, such as negotiation. The price obtained through the instrument used is called the pricing element. The pricing and marketing elements, less the costs incurred in pricing and marketing the sugar, add up to the final pool price received by a grower.

A security is a fungible, negotiable financial instrument that holds some type of monetary value.

Means you have sold something without having ownership of the item, or you have a requirement for the item without having purchased it.

In options trading, the strike is the price at which a contract can be exercised, and the price at which the underlying asset will be bought or sold. It is also known as the strike price.

If the option is a call, when the underlying asset hits the strike price it can be bought. If the option is a put, hitting the strike price means the underlying asset can be sold. In order for an option to be exercised, it must reach its strike price before its expiration date. The more the asset price moves beyond the strike price, the more profit is derived from the option.

When the underlying asset in an option matches its strike price, the option is known as being ‘at the money’. When it exceeds the strike price, it is ‘in the money’.

A swap is a derivative contract through which two parties exchange financial instruments. These instruments can be almost anything, but most swaps involve cash flows based on a notional principal amount that both parties agree to. Each cash flow comprises one leg of the swap. One cash flow is generally fixed, while the other is variable, that is, based on a benchmark interest rate, floating currency exchange rate or index price.

Commodity swaps involve the exchange of a floating commodity price for a set price over an agreed-upon period.

In a currency swap, the parties exchange interest and principal payments on debt denominated in different currencies.

A ‘plain vanilla swap’ is one of the simplest financial instruments contracted in the over-the-counter market between two parties, both of which are usually firms or financial institutions. There are several types of vanilla swaps, including an interest rate, a commodity and a foreign currency swap.