Containing contango

After suffering dramatic losses in 2008, commodity markets are once again on the up. The benchmark Standard & Poor’s (S&P) GSCI for example, which dropped 68% between June 2008 and February 2009, had recovered 33.72% by December 2009, with assets tracking the index at the end of 2009 estimated to be about $72–74 billion.

A survey conducted by Barclays Capital, published on March 4, 2010, found that during 2009, inflows into direct commodity investments worldwide reached an all-time high of $70 b