Agribusiness: Commodity Trading and Risk Management

Pricing turmoil in agriculture is forcing companies to implement best practices for commodity trading and risk management.

Accenture’s solutions in commodity trading and risk management allow agribusinesses to take an integrated approach to trading that helps mitigate risk. With the proper tools and strategies, companies are able to both manage exposure and identify market opportunities in advance of competitors.

Commodity Trading
Accenture helps improve performance in commodity trading–enabling the execution of efficient and effective trades while strengthening the governance of trading operations with improved integration through trading process improvements, trading platforms and related back-office managed services.

Risk Management
Agribusinesses have traditionally focused their risk management efforts on the operational side, with emphasis on food safety. But recent events, such as the extreme weather patterns in Brazil, Russia, and Australia; the “Too-Big-to-Fail” bank failures and bailout; and shifts in government regulations have changed their focus to include market, credit, liquidity, and regulatory risk. Accenture’s Risk Management solutions focus on transforming the function from a series of isolated transactions to one of strategic scope and importance. We help organizations break away from the fragmented and compartmentalized risk management solutions already in place by elevating risk discussions on a strategic level.

System and Integration
Accenture implements the systems and integration required across multiple business units to provide a comprehensive view and then helps develop risk metrics to support decisions and capital allocation. By allowing agribusinesses to identify risks, evaluate scenarios and monitor progress, companies are able to aggressively prevent potential losses, maintain cash flow, improve liquidity, minimize capital reserve requirements and ultimately maximize the risk-adjusted rate of return.

Governance Policies and Procedures
Top performing agribusinesses understand that a strategic and proactive model is the key to high performance. Accenture helps develop risk governance policies and procedures that tie together strategic and operational objectives and prepare agribusinesses to adapt and thrive in this dynamic environment.