Ag procurement development
Hello all, I am just about to start out in the commodity division of a cooperative mostly on the feed side doing purchasing. Wanted to know if even though the group I will be working with has a relatively small footprint, is this still good training to go and become a trader at a trading shop or a larger producer/processor that has a trading team? It seems functionally it is not that different from other procurement roles which from my understanding is training for risk taking roles.
As a purchaser, you're just 1/2 of a trader, you're just always short the market. in feedstuffs you have to analyze a variety of different markets and cant be fixated on just the commodity you are trading due to the existence of outside markets. i.e. if I am trading DDG's I need to be aware of the other mid-pro's. What are run times at flour mills so I know what wheat midds are going for? How has corn sweetener demand been for corn gluten feed? Are we crushing at capacity for soybean hulls? Its all about how you are able to sell your experience and have a market focused outlook on your position and how you look to generate value.