Commodity-Speculation Limits Approved in 3-2 Vote by U.S. Regulator CFTC (Source: Bloomberg)
The top U.S. derivatives regulators voted 3 to 2 today to curb trading in oil, wheat, gold and other commodities after a boom in raw-materials speculation, record- high prices and years of debate and delay. The rule has been among the most controversial provisions of the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul, enacted last year, which gave the Commodity Futures Trading Commission the authority to limit trading in over-the-counter commodity swaps as well as exchange-traded futures. The rule will limit the number of contracts a single firm can hold. “Our duty is to protect both market participants and the American public from fraud, manipulation and other abuses,” Chairman Gary Gensler said at the commission’s meeting in Washington in support of the rule. “Position limits have served since the Commodity Exchange Act passed in 1936 as a tool to curb or prevent excessive speculation that may burden interstate commerce.”
Speculators Not Responsible For High, Volatile Food Prices -DWS (Source: CME)
Speculators in agricultural commodity markets are not responsible for the recent volatility in food prices, Stefan Meinhold, senior product specialist for DWS Invest Global Agribusiness fund has said. Instead he attributes the high and fluctuating prices to severe weather that damages crops and harvests and disrupts supplies. The role of speculation in agricultural markets and in pushing up prices has been debated this year after the United Nations' food body data showed world prices had reached record highs. Countries such as Egypt need to import wheat and other staple foodstuffs to bring down rising food prices, which was one of the reasons behind street protests earlier this year that forced President Hosni Mubarak to step down. But DWS's Meinhold told Dow Jones Newswires late Monday: "We tend to forget that agribusiness is very basic in many ways. If we don't have good weather in the major growing regions of wheat or coffee, you are going to see price swings for that commodity in question."
Extreme weather patterns, in the form of drought or excessive rainfall, that ultimately can both damage the harvesting of crops, have been rising over the last 20 years, said Meinhold. "Climate change issues are certainly a trend that we see developing further out, but because it is a long-term feature to food supply disruption, it's easily overlooked. The sheer frequency of extreme weather patterns is concerning," Meinhold said. DWS Invest Global Agribusiness invests globally in companies that are either in the agricultural sector or profit from this sector and include investments in fertilizers and agricultural chemicals, agricultural products and packaged foods and meat.
Corn (Source: CME)
US corn futures close higher as buyers step in to take advantage of early losses. Recent setbacks have put the grain at prices that are attractive to corn users, analysts say. Gains were a turnaround from opening losses linked to concerns about a global economic slowdown. "The buyers are under the market," notes Larry Glenn of Frontier Ag. Market participants were buying front-month contracts and selling deferred contracts in spread trades. CBOT December corn rises 3 1/2c to $6.44/bushel.
Wheat (Source: CME)
US wheat futures finish stronger, with MGEX posting the biggest gains as supplies tighten. Farmers are refusing to sell spring wheat, traded at MGEX, until prices increase, reducing the amount of available to grain users. CBOT wheat also advances, while KCBT wheat slips slightly as recent rains continue to ease concerns about dryness hurting output in the Plains. CBOT December wheat edges up 1c to $6.25 1/4 a bushel; KCBT December dips 2 3/4c to $7.11 1/2; MGEX December climbs 10 3/4c to $9.06 1/2.
Rice (Source: CME)
US rice futures close sharply lower in a setback from Monday's three-week high. Traders continued to book profits after prices jumped yesterday on concerns about tightening supplies. Traders are still on edge after USDA, in a monthly report last week, lowered its year-end US inventory outlook. Floods in Thailand, the world's top rice exporter, helped fuel supply concerns Monday. CBOT November rice pulls back 26 1/2c to $16.26/hundredweight.
Corn, soybeans fall on harvest, economic outlook
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 (Reuters) - U.S. corn and soybeans fell on Tuesday, weighed down by a pickup in harvest and a gloomy economic outlook that raised concerns demand will slow, while data out of China also dented investor sentiment.
"It's bearish via the impact on non-food commodities, particularly on energy prices," said Malcom Bartholomaeus, a Melbourne-based analyst at Profarmer Grain Australia, which provides grains marketing advice.
Argentine wheat and corn benefit from rains
BUENOS AIRES, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Rain over the last 10 days in Argentina's central grains-growing area revitalized parched wheat fields and helped farmers with their 2011/12 corn sowing, but dry weather could return, a forecaster said on Monday.
Argentina is the world's No. 2 corn supplier after the United States, producing a record 22.9 million tonnes in the 2010/11 season, government data shows.
Ukraine cuts winter grain area due to poor weather
KIEV, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Ukrainian farmers cut the area of winter grains sown for the 2012 harvest by 1.0 million hectares due to lack of significant rainfall in the main growing areas, a senior weather forecaster said on Monday.
Tetyana Adamenko, the head of the agricultural department of Ukraine's meteorological centre, told Reuters that 1.5 million hectares already sown to winter grains were 'under risk' this winter because seeding had been into dry soil and plants had not developed enough to survive during the winter.
Canada Govt To Dismantle Wheat Board, Orders Restructuring Of Agency (Source: CME)
Canada's Conservative government introduced a bill that dismantles the Canadian Wheat Board and orders a new management team to restructure and sell off parts of the agency within a five-year timeframe. Meanwhile, farmers will gain the right to sell their crops to whoever they choose starting Aug. 1 of next year. Once the bill clears the final legislative hurdle - which the government wants before the end of 2011 - farmers would be able to enter into forward contracts for the sale of grain in the post-Aug. 1 period. The bill was formally introduced in the legislature, and at a media conference Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said the "sky will not fall" despite arguments from opponents of the move. "The removal of this monopoly will allow farmers to sell their grains directly to a processor, whether it is a new pasta manufacturer, a new flour mill or any other existing processing plant," Ritz said. With this move, the Conservatives are fulfilling a long-time promise to end the wheat board's monopoly powers.
Under the bill, the wheat board would continue to be owned by the government, and the board could engage in the purchase and selling of grains from farmers. "At the end of the day, it will be up to farmers to make use of the value of the wheat board going forward," Ritz said. A team of five corporate directors, including the board's chief executive, would then oversee a restructuring period of no more than five years. The board would operate a so-called "voluntary" organization, and develop a business plan for privatization. After five years, whatever operations haven't been sold would be wound down. Ritz declined to say whether the government would give its blessing to a sale of board assets to key agriculture companies such as Viterra Inc. (VT.T) and privately-held Cargill.
The Conservative government holds a majority of seats in the Canadian legislature, so the bill is certain to pass. And Ritz said it's his intention the bill pass by the end of this calendar year in an effort to provide clarity and direction for farmers. "Any delay would only hurt farmers," he said, adding that a parliamentary debate would offer no new details or developments. The present chairman of the Canadian Wheat Board vowed to explore legal means to stop the government. The Canadian Wheat Board recently conducted its own plebiscite in which 62% of respondents were in favor of keeping the single desk for wheat and 51% for barley.
FAO Calls For Coordination In Fighting Food Prices Volatility (Source: CME)
The head of the Food and Agriculture Organization called for international coordination in fighting world hunger and food price volatility, saying coordinated steps are crucial at a time of global crisis, ahead of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing nations summit in Cannes in early November. "Food prices will remain high and volatile in the next years," said FAO director general Jacques Diouf, adding that countries have to avoid "contradictory moves." Diouf and French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire held a joint press conference on the issue of price volatility--a key concern for France's presidency of the G20. Debate over speculation in agricultural markets has increased this year after data from the United Nations' food body showed world prices reached record highs.
North African countries, such as Egypt, need to import wheat and other staples to bring down rising food prices, which was one of the main reasons behind street protests earlier this year that forced President Hosni Mubarak to step down. World food prices rose in February to a new record peak to an average of 236 points, the highest record in real and nominal terms since the U.N. food body started monitoring prices in 1990. Diouf stepped short of indicating if the G20 will provide concrete answers to the problem of food prices volatility, but added that lone countries don't have enough tools to deal with food price increases, and investments in agriculture, research and innovation will remain key. La Maire also highlighted the issues of biofuels and land grabbing, but said it is difficult to deal with them "immediately."
The United Nation's food body last week warned that food prices are set to stay high and volatile as production struggles to keep pace with rising demand from emerging countries and to divert grain to make biofuels.
Rice May Rally as Thai Floods, State Buying Hand Export Advantage to India (Source: Bloomberg)
Rice may advance 19 percent after floods cut supplies in Southeast Asia, including in the biggest shipper Thailand, and that nation’s government started a state- purchasing program, according to the country’s largest packer. The price of Thai parboiled rice may climb to $750 per metric ton on a free-on-board basis by year-end from $630, while the same product from India may gain to $500 per ton from $480, C.P. Intertrade Co. President Sumeth Laomoraphorn said in an interview in Bangkok. Parboiled rice is soaked, steamed and dried before milling, a technique that preserves vitamins. Costlier rice may push up global food costs and elevate inflation, complicating the task for the world’s central bankers as they seek to sustain economic growth hurt by the euro zone debt crisis. Indian suppliers may benefit from sales not met by Thailand and the South Asian nation may become the world’s second-largest supplier, Sumeth, 50, said on Oct. 17.
SE Asia flood impact on rice supply, prices in focus
HO CHI MINH CITY, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Tightening rice supply in top exporter Thailand due to floods and defaults by Vietnam as prices jump could prompt Indonesia, Africa and the Middle East to delay imports until the market steadies or seek cheaper options from India and Pakistan.
International traders and government officials meeting in Vietnam this week will also assess the full impact of flooding on output in the top two exporters, whether prices will escalate further and the demand outlook for typhoon-hit Philippines.
Kazakh state grain trader plans return to exports
ASTANA, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's state-owned grain trader will return to the export market this season, shipping up to 1.5 million tonnes of what promises to be the country's biggest post-Soviet grain crop, the head of the company said.
Beibitkhan Kabdrakhmanov, chairman of the management board at the Food Contract Corporation, forecast that Kazakhstan would have an exportable grain surplus of around 13 million tonnes in the current marketing year.
China Food Prices Fall On Week; Vegetables Lead -Ministry (Source: CME)
Food prices fell in the week to Sunday in response to ebbing demand pressures in the wake of October National Day holidays in early October, the Ministry of Commerce said. Wholesale prices for 18 types of vegetables fell 5% compared with the immediately preceding period, the ministry said in a statement. The decline snapped an upward trend in vegetable prices since Aug. 15. Vegetable prices had risen 1.7% the preceding week. Pork prices fell 1.2% in the week to Sunday, while beef was down 0.4%, also reversing a trend of increases, the ministry said. Edible oil prices rose by 0.1%-0.2% in the period, it said.
USDA Acknowledges Difficulties Making Crop Estimates This Year (Source: CME)
Federal agriculture officials acknowledged they struggled to accurately issue crop estimates this year and placed some of the blame on the ethanol industry. Officials for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, gathered for an annual industry meeting at a Chicago hotel, said it had been difficult to estimate year-end inventories, output and plantings for crops like corn and soybeans. They responded to concerns about their estimates from analysts and traders, who rely on the department's data to make decisions in agricultural futures markets also used by farmers and food companies. "I think everybody in this room, USDA included, has had a difficult forecasting year," Gerry Bange, chairman of the USDA's World Agricultural Outlook Board, told the gathering. The USDA has been under fire from some analysts because of big swings in its crop estimates.
Most recently, the department shocked market participants last week by raising its outlook for year-end corn supplies by 29% from September, a bigger-than-expected increase. Traders and analysts depend on the department's crop estimates. They come out at set times each month, are the subject of intense scrutiny, and often cause immediate price swings. They influence what a farmer will plant, how much hedging a farmer will do, and whether an investor will buy or sell. Officials said the larger-than-expected supply outlook reflected a shift in recent years in the amount of corn used in the second half of the crop's marketing year, which ended Aug. 31. More of the grain is being consumed in the first half of the year than it has been historically, leading many analysts to overestimate demand and underestimate supplies later in the year, said Jerry Norton, a grain analyst for the world board, which issues monthly estimates on supply and demand. He said he didn't know the reason for the shift.
"What we're seeing is an emerging pattern," Norton said. Analysts at the meeting said they would incorporate the new pattern into their market forecasts by concentrating demand estimates in the first half of the marketing year. That could help them to more accurately predict crop prices. Another pattern is the increased unpredictability of the department's supply estimates. Federal officials are having a tougher time estimating how much corn to put in a category that accounts for corn fed to livestock and in transit from one place to another. The category--known as "feed and residual"--also accounts for margins of error used in estimating overall use of the crop.
The residual portion of the category has become "less predictable over time" because more of the crop is being used to produce ethanol, Norton said. The increase in corn used for ethanol means there is a more significant margin of error for that category and reduces the amount of the total crop left for feed and residual purposes, he said. That means the increased margin of error is more influential in the feed and residual category, making it more erratic. "You're pushing a bigger error into a smaller category," he said. Norton said the feed and residual category started to become more unpredictable as the ethanol industry was expanding in the 2005-06 marketing year. About 40% of the U.S. corn harvest is expected to be used to make ethanol in the 2011-12 marketing year that ends next August, up from 14% in the 2005-06 marketing year.
Ukraine Harvests 45.85M Tons Grain To Oct 17 (Source: CME)
Ukraine harvested 45.85 million metric tons of grain to Oct. 17, 19% more than on the same date last year, on 13.6 million hectares, 88.6% of the total area to be harvested, the agriculture ministry reported. The average yield to date was 3.38 tons a hectare compared with 2.74 tons a hectare a year ago. The government expects this year's grain harvest at 52 million to 53 million tons. Ukraine's grain harvest in 2010 fell by 14.8% on the year to 39.23 million tons in clean weight because of drought.
Captive Labor on the Farm (Source: CME)
Weary workers rise at dawn here in the heart of Idaho potato country, eager for another day outside. They're convicts, deployed by Idaho's Department of Correction to pick, sort and pack potatoes during harvest season. "This is the first year we're doing a harvest," said Steve Little, warden here at the minimum-security St. Anthony Work Camp. Prior to this season, he explained, inmates worked mainly in processing sheds and kitchens, not open fields. But farm labor is so scarce, Mr. Little said, that prisoners now pick as well as pack potatoes. Despite high unemployment across the U.S., many farmers are struggling to find hands willing to labor in their fields. From Arizona to Alabama, states are cracking down on undocumented migrant labor with legislation that gets tough on employers. One result: some "illegal" farm hands are being replaced by criminal ones.
In fact, there is such demand for Mr. Little's charges that employers here operate under a "use it or lose it" principle: Farms that cut back on prison labor usually can't get more later if they need it. "They give you an amount of inmates, say 10, and if you can't employ them, they drop them and you'll never get 'em back," said Todd Cornelison of the Idaho Potato Commission. The trade-off hasn't always gone smoothly. When Georgia faced a looming shortage earlier this year in the wake of new employment rules, parolees were sent to fill some 11,000 vacant spots harvesting such things as cucumbers. Probation officers urged their charges to work on farms, and some did. But growers complained many parolees were ill-prepared and quit on them.
This month, Alabama got into the act. With strict new laws chasing many immigrant farm hands from the state, John McMillan, commissioner of Alabama's Department of Agriculture and Industries, announced he would look to prison work-release programs to put workers in the fields. Idaho's program has been in place more than a decade, but isn't widely publicized, in part to avert criticism that prisoners are taking jobs from the unemployed or, alternatively, that inmates don't deserve a chance to work outside prisons. None of the growers using inmates near here would talk about the practice, though their contracts are a matter of public record. SunGlo of Idaho Inc., Walters Produce Inc., High Country Potato Inc., and Floyd Wilcox & Sons Inc. all have long-term contracts with Idaho's Department of Correction. Each declined to comment.
The inmates themselves are enthusiastic about their jobs. Some cite the chance to earn extra money handling potatoes. Most say wages, as much as $7.50 an hour, exceed what prisons pay for "inside" jobs such as laundry or janitorial work, where pay starts at 10 cents an hour. Others emphasize the chance to learn a trade and be around folks who aren't convicted felons. "The best part is you have the influence of the real world, which eventually we're all going back to," said Thomas Alworth, a 36-year-old convicted of grand theft by possession. Mr. Alworth, who is eligible for parole in a little over three years, also praised the program's mandatory-savings rule, which he calculates will put between $3,000 and $10,000 into his account by the time he is released. (Idaho is one of several states that require inmates to save a portion of their pay to support themselves after release.)
Convict labor has a dark history in America, notoriously in the post-Civil War South, when thousands of African-Americans endured what historians say was a kind of de facto enslavement as prisoners on chain gangs.
Sugar Shortages Extend Across Europe as Global Glut Expands: Commodities (Source: Bloomberg)
At a time when the world is facing its biggest sugar glut in at least four years, trade barriers mean the European Union is contending with a second consecutive annual shortage. EU supply will fall 1.1 million tons short of demand in the 12 months ending in September, according to the Committee of European Sugar Users, whose members include Nestle SA (NESN), Unilever and Kraft Foods Inc. Global output will exceed usage by 5.32 million metric tons, Macquarie Group Ltd. predicts. As world sugar prices fell 23 percent in the past eight months, costs in the 27-nation bloc reached a two-year high.
The EU, once the second-biggest sugar exporter, spent about 5.2 billion euros ($7.1 billion) since 2006 to shrink the industry after the World Trade Organization ruled it was dumping subsidized supply on world markets. At the same time, the bloc failed to scrap import duties, leaving users with the choice of either paying about 60 percent more than in the international market or shunning purchase and shuttering production.
Markets dip in broader slide on China GDP
LONDON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - ICE raw sugar, arabica coffee and cocoa eased on Tuesday as renewed concerns of a slowdown in China hit world markets including stocks and oil.
Arabica coffee futures edged lower, extending losses following a sharp fall the previous session on a combination of large looming crops and the negative macroeconomic outlook.
Central America takes stock of rain damage to coffee
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Central America coffee growers are counting their losses after two weeks of rainstorms have felled coffee trees, ruined roads and threatened to spread fungus on plants.
The rains have already killed more than 80 people in the isthmus, where the countries of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Costa Rica all produce high-quality arabica beans contributing to global supplies.
Philippine raw sugar output up 21 pct-attache
Oct 17 (Reuters) - Following are selected highlights from a report issued by a U.S. Department of Agriculture attache in the Philippines:
"Philippine raw sugar production increased 21 percent to 2.4 million tonnes in Crop Year 2010/11, while cane production rose 33 percent to 25,900 million tonnes over the same period. The increase was due mainly to higher yields from favorable weather conditions as well as a price-induced expansion in sugarcane area.
Ivorian cocoa arrivals seen low, farmers stockpiling
ABIDJAN, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast reached around 19,000 tonnes by Oct. 16, exporters estimated on Monday, less than half the volumes seen in the same period of last season, as farmers held back stocks awaiting higher prices.
The figure compared with 41,439 tonnes in the same period of the previous season.
Mexico coffee exports rise in 10/11, Nicaragua down
MEXICO CITY, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Mexico exported 2.7 million 60-kg bags of coffee in the 2010/11 harvest, which drew to a close last month, 6 percent higher than the previous season; nearby Nicaragua saw exports fall in the same period.
Nicaragua exported 1.5 million bags of coffee in the October-September coffee growing year, down 9.5 percent from the 2009/10 harvest, the national export board said on Monday.
Rains hamper Brazil's cane harvest but should ease
SAO PAULO, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Persistent rains over the past few days have hindered cane harvesting in Brazil's main center-south cane producing region, but the weather should turn dry again soon, meteorologists Somar said on Monday.
More than 20 mills out of about 350 in the region have finished crushing for the 2011/12 season, about twice as many as a year ago, as the center-south posts its first drop in output in 11 years.
Ivory Coast rains, sun boost cocoa crop-farmers
ABIDJAN, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Abundant rains punctuated by sunny spells last week in most of Ivory Coast's key cocoa regions have boosted the main crop, but heavy rains in some areas have prevented harvesting and may damage quality by preventing proper drying, farmers said on Monday.
Harvesting of the 2011/12 cocoa main crop (Oct-Mar) is underway and farmers in western regions said they were expecting a healthy main crop, even compared with last season.-
Oil Trades Near Month High as Europe Outlook Counters Stockpiles Forecast (Source: Bloomberg)
Oil traded near the highest close in more than a month in New York as signs that Europe may contain its debt crisis and prevent a slump in demand countered speculation U.S. crude supplies increased last week. Futures were little changed, after advancing 2.3 percent yesterday, before the release of Energy Department data today that may show supplies climbed 2 million barrels. An industry report showed they dropped a third week. Prices surged yesterday after The Guardian newspaper said Germany and France agreed to boost the European rescue fund. Crude for November delivery was at $88.17 a barrel, down 17 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:16 a.m. Sydney time. The contract yesterday rose $1.96 to $88.34, the highest close since Sept. 15. The more-actively traded December future slid 15 cents to $88.38. Prices are down 3.5 percent this year.
Brent falls as China GDP, euro zone weigh
LONDON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Brent crude futures fell below $110 a barrel, paring earlier gains, after weaker Chinese third-quarter economic growth prompted concern about future demand from the world's second-largest oil consumer and as Moody's warned France of a negative outlook.
"This morning the focus is on China, GDP was slightly lower than expected and the oil-specific numbers were very disappointing," Olivier Jakob from Petromatrix said.
China Sept oil demand up 1 pct, lowest this year
BEIJING, Oct 18 (Reuters) - China's implied oil demand grew at 1 percent on the year in September to about 8.9 million barrels per day (bpd), the lowest this year, Reuters calculations based on preliminary government data show.
The data shows a continuing trend of slowing oil demand since June from the double-digit growth since late last year as Chinese economic growth slows and tightening credit cuts into fuel spending by small industries.
Libyan oil needs $30 bln to reach 3 mbd -France
PARIS, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Raising Libya's oil production to 3 million barrels per day by 2015 will cost about $30 billion, the head of France's trade commission UbiFrance said on Monday, after travelling with French firms to Tripoli to meet interim government officials.
About 80 French companies, including the likes of oil giant Total , cement maker Lafarge and engineering group Alstom , met Libyan ministers, officials and company executives during the one-day trip to the Libyan capital on Oct. 12 to position themselves for future contracts.
Libya oil fields face guerrilla war threat
LONDON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Pro-Gaddafi fighters may resort to hit-and-run guerilla attacks against Libyan politicians, foreign workers and oil installations in the remote southwestern Fezzan district if they are driven from their last bastions, risk consultants say.
A full-scale insurgency like the one that erupted in Iraq following the ouster of Saddam Hussein by U.S.-led forces is unlikely, but a determined guerrilla campaign could make life difficult for Libya's new rulers and foreign oil companies considering a return.
Copper Falls as Slowing Chinese Econony Signals Weakening Demand for Metal (Source: Bloomberg)
Copper fell for a second day as economic growth slowed to a two-year low in China, the world’s largest metals consumer. Gross domestic product in China rose 9.1 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the slowest pace since 2009, figures from the country’s statistics bureau showed. Prices also retreated as investor confidence in Germany, the third-biggest copper consumer, reached the lowest level in almost three years. “Investors sense that accelerating Chinese metal demand that was so prevalent in prior years may now give way to decelerating demand, something that may not support a scenario of higher metals prices over the medium term,” Edward Meir, a senior commodity analyst at MF Global Holdings Ltd. in Darien, Connecticut, said in a report.
Maersk Shareholders Suffering With Overwhelming Container Supply: Freight (Source: Bloomberg)
The container industry may be facing half a decade of oversupply that will curb freight rates as shipping lines launch vessels into a global trade slowdown. The rise in container capacity will exceed demand by as much as 10 percentage points over the next three years, according to Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd. That gap won’t substantially improve for five years, Neil Dekker, head of container research at Drewry, said in an Oct. 11 interview. Those estimates assume no slump in world economic output. Global growth will slow this year as “crisis-hit” advanced economies struggle and Europe’s debt woes prove “tenacious,” the International Monetary Fund said last month. An increase in vessels from shipping lines like Copenhagen-based A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S has helped send freight rates plunging 70 percent since a 2010 peak. On its current course the industry will struggle to turn profitable, said Ross Porter, a Stavanger, Norway-based fund manager at Skagen A/S.
