Friday, April 3, 2009

Corn | Jim Rogers Macquarie Agriculture Index Fund

Jim Rogers has been an agriculture bull for some time, and has now combined that favorite investment sector of his in a new commodities index fund also including China, along with agriculture. Rogers has partnered with with Australia's Macquarie Funds group to create the new Macquarie and Rogers China Agriculture Index.

Rogers' contention for some time has been that no matter what happens in the global economy, and what may be the demand for the near and far future, agriculture is going to play an increasingly big role in the world, and those investing in the sector will do well in the years ahead.

Put the expanding Chinese middle class together with the growing population and economy, and you see the potential the Macquarie and Rogers China Agriculture Index fund represents.

so even with the continuing challenges facing the global economy, agricultural commodities will continue to be in high demand, especially those targeting the Asian market.

Commodity investors will be glad to know the difference between the Macquarie and Rogers China Agriculture Index and other Indices. In this case, the agriculture index fund will focus on the actual consumption of food and the price fluctuations connected to that, rather than simply tracking production, which doesn't guarantee anything will be consumed or sold.

With the price of food being undoubtedly tied to the Chinese people, anything targeting that market should enjoy bellwhether status in relationship to global food prices, and so an index fund in relationship to Jim Rogers should do well in tracking the price fluctuations of food in the densely populated country. It should rank among one of the top hedge funds in the near and far future.

Another benefit to those marketing and managing financial products to invest in, is the ability to create innovative products linked to the overall focus of the commodity index fund. How that happens is the exchange-traded futures contracts or commodity ETF future contracts it uses on physical commodities.

This is a great opportunity for those who believe in the overall competence of Jim Rogers to get involved in something he's studied and watched closely, as well as believes in passionately. In that sense, connecting to a hot commodity market like China with a agricultural raw materials fund will be a great way to profit for those interested in investing in a commodity or commodity index fund or ETF.

As Jim Rogers has said over the last several years, we can count on the current commodity bull market to continue for years, and the existing economic crisis will only extend it longer, even if there is some short term pain and slowdown.

As Rogers continues to hammer home, food will be eaten and in demand no matter what else happens. And with that demand to be no larger than in China, it positions Rogers, commodity investors, and the Macquarie and Rogers China Agriculture Index for long term investing success.

We must keep watching commodity hedge funds and commodity etfs which specifically target agriculture. With agriculture prices plunging in 2008, they will turn around sooner or later, and investing in a commodity index fund like Macquarie and Rogers China Agriculture Index should provide a solid return when those prices start to climb again.

Demand for food isn't just going to climb linearily, it will climb exponentially, as even with population-control efforts, it continues to climb in the Asian region had significant pace. Food demand and prices will follow that continuing trend.

The primary strategy of the Macquarie and Rogers China Agriculture Index is to track consumer consumption patterns in China, and how food prices respond to them. That's the underlying foundation of the fund. This is what gives the fund an excellent chance of bringing a high level of return for those looking at the agricultural commodity sector.

As mentioned earlier, more than any other people in the world in the years ahead, the Chinese will more than anybody determine the food priorities and prices globally, and the new agriculture commodity fund from Jim Rogers should move up with that reality.

While we know that past success doesn't in any way guarantee future results, the past performance of Jim Rogers, especially when working with George Soros and the amazingly successful Quantum Fund, which gained about 4,200 percent over a ten-year-period, does give an indication that he knows what he's doing, and does his homework when it comes to supply and demand of raw materials.

And Rogers now sees agriculture as the major point of demand for probably decades, and so the fund was created.

The new Macquarie and Rogers China Agriculture Index fund should be an important investment vehicle in the hot commodities hedge fund arena.