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Is the convenience yield a good indicator of a commodity's supply risk?

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  • Stepanek, Christian
  • Walter, Matthias
  • Rathgeber, Andreas

Abstract

A strong increase in the demand for some commodities over the last decade will have a major impact on their future supply situation. Of increasing importance, therefore, is an assessment of a commodity's criticality, and especially its supply risk, by appropriate indicators. The literature has proposed numerous indicators of the supply risk. Here, we use the convenience yield of commodity futures as a supply risk indicator to address some of the major shortcomings of existing indicators, especially regarding their predictive power. This paper aims to test the applicability of the convenience yield as an indicator of a commodity's future supply risk. Therefore, we calculate historical convenience yields for 3-, 15-, and 27-month futures contracts for five major industrial metals (aluminum, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc) during the period 1999 to 2011. We compare the convenience yields at the beginning of the contract period to known indicators at maturity to find that the convenience yield has generally predictive power for the static stock lifetime (i.e., inventory volume/turnover) and future spot prices. Furthermore, we find that, with some restrictions, the convenience yield is an applicable indicator of a commodity's supply risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Stepanek, Christian & Walter, Matthias & Rathgeber, Andreas, 2013. "Is the convenience yield a good indicator of a commodity's supply risk?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 395-405.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:38:y:2013:i:3:p:395-405
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2013.06.001
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    Cited by:

    1. Fernandez, Viviana, 2020. "The predictive power of convenience yields," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    2. Jerome Geyer‐Klingeberg & Andreas W. Rathgeber, 2021. "Determinants of the WTI‐Brent price spread revisited," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(5), pages 736-757, May.
    3. Fernandez, Viviana, 2019. "Assessing cycles of mine production and prices of industrial metals," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-1.
    4. Omura, Akihiro & Li, Bin & Chung, Richard & Todorova, Neda, 2018. "Convenience yield, realised volatility and jumps: Evidence from non-ferrous metals," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 496-510.
    5. Oliveira, Sydnei Marssal de & Ribeiro, Celma de Oliveira & Cicogna, Maria Paula Vieira, 2018. "Uncertainty effects on production mix and on hedging decisions: The case of Brazilian ethanol and sugar," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 516-524.
    6. Jia, Jian & Kang, Sang Baum, 2022. "Do the basis and other predictors of futures return also predict spot return with the same signs and magnitudes? Evidence from the LME," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 25(C).
    7. Omura, Akihiro & Todorova, Neda & Li, Bin & Chung, Richard, 2015. "Convenience yield and inventory accessibility: Impact of regional market conditions," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-11.

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