The best time for a sailor to set the rigging, stock up on suppliers or plot a course is when seas are calm and the wind gentle.

Commodity price risk management, or hedging programmes, can help to keep your direct/ raw material costs down. But many companies’ efforts are not delivering the full value that’s achievable.

By ‘commodities’ we mean all and any commodity for which there’s a liquid market traded on an exchange (agricultural, livestock and meats, metals, energy, plastics, fats and oils, etc.).