FCStone offers comprehensive risk-management programs and services to dairy producers, processors, and end-users.

Our experienced dairy-industry consultants provide clients with full-service brokerage services at competitive commission rates, along with in-depth, one-on-one market analysis, forecasts and advice. Calling upon decades of industry experience, FCStone brokers help a wide range of dairy-industry participants protect against the risk of price fluctuations in dairy products and in inputs (including grains and energy products), using a combination of exchange-traded, OTC and cash-market tools. OTC products are offered through INTL Hanley, LLC.

Consulting

In a world where risk and volatility are a part of everyday business, it is education and intelligence that makes the difference. We are committed to understanding every customer’s unique situation and expectations before implementing a hedging strategy. That is why we designed the Integrated Risk Management Program (IRMP).

The IRMP is a consulting-based program that is designed to combine planning, performance, execution and accountability into a strategic risk management plan based on your goals and expectations. To ensure that you receive the most comprehensive analysis and recommendations through the IRMP, all of our risk management consultants have access to our renowned Dairy Economist Bill Brooks as well as our Technical Analyst, David Zaslavsky.

Our Economists and Analysts provide insight into the complicated and evolving global dairy markets to you through daily, weekly, and monthly articles as well as in-depth analysis of weekly and monthly government reports. When the time comes to execute your strategic hedging plan, our consultants have direct access to our traders on the dairy trading floors at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as well as access to state-of-the-art trading platforms. Throughout the entire process we are accountable to you. It is our job and desire to help you achieve your goals and help you protect and improve your bottom line results.

Additional Services

Economic Research Databases: Need market data built into reports that are meaningful and relevant to your business’s needs? We can handle the task of fitting and maintaining data in the formats you distribute to your various departments as well as maintain a customized database for your company.

Economic and Industry Studies: If your business requires a professional, detailed study of dairy industry trends and concerns, we have the global expertise to deliver.

Workshops/Seminars/Speaking Engagements: If you’d like more people in your company, or  other business associates, to better understand dairy markets, futures prices, or commodity risk in general, we’re eager to assist.

Brokerage Services

The risk management consultants at FCStone, are committed to providing our customers with the highest level of personalized commodity risk management services available. From day one, our team has been committed to educating and servicing the dairy industry on the benefits of price risk management. Our goal is to help improve our customers’ bottom-line results by providing them with platforms, instruments, information, and strategies that can help enhance profitability.

The companies that comprise FCStone Group operate as a coordinated whole; separate, yet capable of providing integrated services for our clients' benefit. We are structured in that way so that all of our divisions can be utilized to implement the individualized strategies that we develop with you. With seats on all of the major commodity exchanges in North America and offices in Europe, China, Brazil and Australia, and access to the expertise and insight of International Assets Holding Corporation, we have the ability to gather information and execute the individualized strategies efficiently and effectively. Our unique approach allows us to assist companies in understanding the complexities of the domestic dairy markets and the intricacies of the developing global dairy markets from almost every possible perspective. While we do this for you our consultants adhere to the strictest code of ethics, integrity, and confidentiality and we always puts the customers’ needs ahead of ours.

Forward Contracting

Forward contracting is a tool used for managing or “hedging” price risk.  The goal of risk management is to anticipate profit margins by locking in prices for milk, which improve fiscal planning. Risk management tools help to build certainty in an uncertain marketplace, allowing dairy producers to mitigate price risks and set prices instead of taking whatever the market gives them.  The milk is shipped to the producer’s cooperative or proprietary company; forward contracting is just setting the price in advance. 

What is FCStone’s role?

FCStone works with the cooperative/proprietary company to educate our customers/dairy producers about value of risk management tools by acting as an agent for communicating futures prices, positions, and orders, executing, and confirming trades. Forward contracting allows dairy producers to set prices and better control business. FCStone then works with the cooperative/proprietary company to offset risk by using futures and options on futures. FCStone manages the forward contracting process from start to finish on behalf of our customers.