• Examining how supply, demand and prices react, interact and drive all asset classes in the new global fully integrated financial world
• The exploding derivatives markets and complex structured products and their impact on the volatile commodities' prices
• Sudden transparency of the supply and demand levels: How has it affected the profits of the past in regional smaller markets?
• Understanding why related industry news and analysis is now a crucial part of the commodity world

• An update on the key developments in the Chinese futures market
• Innovations and opportunities for domestic and foreign investors
• Launching new products that successfully hedge the price exposure and arbitrage against other international markets
• How investors can gain the best exposure to the local opportunities?

• China’s rate of economic growth: Is it sustainable and how conditions in the US affect China’s growth and vice versa?
• Industrialization, urbanization and consumption patterns in China: How does this translate into physical demand?
• China as a commodity producer and its role in the global supply  fundamentals and price trends
• Climate change and its influence on China’s commodity industry markets

• The three phase nature of commodity demand
• The supply response: Profits, politics, and prospects
• The three elements: Earth, fire, and water
• The investment triad: Rock, paper, scissors

• The debate on the commodities supercycle: How should we react to the recent market corrections?
• Evaluating the macroeconomic trends and the roles of China and India in driving the major commodity markets
• How does the global search for clean energy impact the commodity sectors and their respective producers?
• Prices of the major commodity markets in the near and medium terms: Predicting the hottest investment for the next two years

• “Supermarketization" and the global sourcing 
• Rapidly growing demand for higher-value agricultural products due to urbanization and income growth
• How will water shortages impact commodity prices?
• Predictions for future prices and investment prospects for various soft commodities
  

    Afternoon session
Choose from 2 streams: Delegates can hear from experts in their field on the supply and demand dynamics over a full afternoon. Mix and match the streams for greater focused learning and discussion.

Chairperson
Kirby Daley, Head of Sales & Capital Introductions,
Fimat Alternative Investment Solutions - Asia

• Global trends and policies towards clean energy

• Clean energy market  developments: Energy supply and technology cooperation between countries around the Asian-Pacific region

•  Implications on the demand for fossil fuels

  Shen Yuedong, Chief Editor of Energy Technology  and Vice CTO, Shanghai Academy of Science and Technology, China

• Updates and projections on India’s physical supply, trading and shipping capacity
• Exploration activities and new projects
• Infrastructure limitations and the impact on production

• Development of oil sands and possible Canadian exports to China and in Asia
• How does this impact on the traditional oil prices?
• Supply fundamentals: Exploration, reserves and production updates

• Global trends and how do they impact on the price forecast for biofuels
• Supply fundamentals: Feedstock availability and price models
• Current and projected demand for biofuels
• The price outlook for biofuels
  

• China’s appetite for traditional oil products and alternative energy products including biofuels
• The rise of carbon trading and its implications for China’s energy industry
• The role of speculative investments
• Pricing outlook for traditional and alternative energy products in three to five years

Chairperson
Sean Russo, Managing Director,
Noah’s Rule, Australia

• Historical data and future trends of metal prices
• Evaluating the implications of globalisation, urban population and industrialisation
• Analysing investors’ perspectives

• Global supply and demand for iron ore  
• How does China’s steel industry shape its consumption of iron ore?
• Forecasting the future demand from China for imported iron ore based on historical data
• Price trends for iron ore
  

• Market trends leading to the collapse of the dollar
• Understanding the role of weakening dollar in the base metals markets
• Implications on the precious metals market and price trends
  

• Today’s mine supply for precious and base metals
• The boom in exploration activities: When will we face oversupply?
• To what extent is China’s metals demand linked to its 2008 Olympics construction programme?
• Future market outlook

• Evaluating gold’s monetary role in unstable times
• The impact of the US dollar
• Assessing the buying patterns of central banks using gold for forex reserves
• Speculative demand fundamentals in China’s precious metals market
• Forecasting the price of gold: Will it achieve USD800 this year?

• Market developments: Latest joint ventures and partnership deals in the financial industry
• Opportunities and challenges faced in joint ventures
• How ready is the local Chinese market for new commodity investment using equities?

• Outlook on the developments in China’s capital markets
• What are the foreseeable measures to tighten market supervision and improve business environment?
• Insights on how the regulatory policies may evolve: Projecting the opportunities for foreign investment in China's stocks, bonds, futures and exchanges
• The time has come for equity derivatives: How about commodity derivatives?

• Analysis of the most attractive cities 
• Development zones with the most comprehensive attraction to foreign capital 
• The most important factors for investment of multinational corporations 
• New opportunities in commodity, energy resources & heavy industry
  

• Recent joint ventures of Chinese future brokerages with internationals: What is the progress in the trading of futures by these JVs?
• What are the government’s sentiments towards reforms?
• Expected timeline for deregulation in the futures market
• Understanding the mindset of the Chinese investors: Innovative commodity products with new themes and features suitable for Chinese investors

• Understanding the needs of brokers
• What do brokers hope to get out of such partnerships?
• Trading strategies, contract specifications and derivative based products: Which are best suited to the needs of brokers in today’s market?

• Understanding the pension funds’ perspective on commodity investments
• Key considerations for managing commodities in a portfolio
• Benefits and cost analysis of the different portfolio management strategies
• Tailoring the strategies for today’s market conditions and preparing for an uncertain future

• Pros and cons of different channels to gain exposure in commodities
• Risk diversification and use of commodity index
• Innovative structured products on commodities

• Evaluating the pros and cons to direct commodities investment versus commodity producing equities
• Mapping risk returns and links to commodity pricing
• Hedging your exposure to management risk

• Inventory versus the shape of the curve
• The price of the future versus the price in the future
• Long spread versus option on spread

• Identifying the driving forces behind price funds
• How do soft and agricultural commodity markets work in comparison with the industrial commodity markets?
• Which products are the safest in today’s volatile market?
• Global warming and its impact on future commodity prices
  

• Evaluating the pros and cons of active versus passive management
• Investing in commodity-linked notes, swaps, futures, indices,
  ETFs and other commodity innovations: What are the risks and returns?
• Deciding on a mix of active and passive strategies versus one strategy to gain exposure and achieve alpha

• An overview of the unique risks inherent in commodities
• Understanding how producers and suppliers use hedging tools and strategies to protect price variations and profits
• Is hedging effective in times of high commodity prices?
• Evaluating various commodity hedging strategies

• Risks inherent in the commodity markets/ financial markets
• Benefits of managed futures
• The different types of CTAs and the different strategies in selecting a manager
• Absolute return aspects