Excessive Speculation in the Wheat Market

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.