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Excessive Speculation in the Wheat Market

Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

Location: Room 342, Dirksen Senate Office Building



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Member Statements

Agenda

This hearing was a followup to the June 24th Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations' release of a 247-page staff report entitled, "Excessive Speculation in the Wheat Market," which examined how commodity index traders, in the aggregate, have made such large purchases on the Chicago wheat futures market that they have pushed up futures prices, disrupted the normal relationship between futures prices and cash prices for wheat, and caused farmers, grain elevators, grain processors, and others to experience significant unwarranted costs and price risks. The Subcommittee hearing examined the nature of the problems caused by index trading in the wheat market and possible solutions, including applying standard position limits to index traders instead of exempting them. Witnesses at the hearing included representatives of CFTC, and CME Group, as well as representatives of wheat producers, users, consumers, and index traders.

Witnesses

Panel 1

Panel 2

  • MR. THOMAS COYLE
    Vice President & General Manager, Chicago & Illinois River Marketing LLC, Nidera, Inc.
    Chairman, National Grain and Feed Association
    Washington, DC
    Download Testimony (91k)
  • MR. HAYDEN WANDS
    Director of Procurement, Sara Lee Corporation
    Chairman, Commodity and Agricultural Policy, American Bakers Association
    Washington, DC
    Download Testimony (92k)
  • MR. MARK COOPER
    Director of Research
    Consumer Federation of America
    Washington, DC
    Download Testimony (537k)
  • MR. STEVEN H. STRONGIN
    Head of the Global Investment Research Division
    The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
    New York, NY
    Download Testimony (149k)

Panel 3