Comment Text:
I write as a private citizen who is also the co-owner of a small business (wholesale bakery).
I've learned that "position limits" have changed somewhat recently after being quite limited for the prior half-century. As someone who has been able to purchase 6- or 9-month "future contracts" on flour, I've been amazed by the numerous spike in prices we've seen over the past few years. As far as I could tell, these spikes seemed unrelated to supply/demand--bad weather and political considerations included.
Now I learn that the erasure of "position limits" for a dozen or so specific banks or investment companies has created a sudden glut of money that buy up commodity futures. These investments neither grow nor use the commodities that they purchase. They hope to reap profits but can only do so if the price of the commodites-in-question increase in price on the open market.
This is why the cost of flour, sugar and other primary ingredients in my small company's manufactured food products have risen so unpredictably as of late. As a result, I've had to raise my products' prices to unprecedented levels.
This is causing harm to my 30+ year old business with its 50 employees. Great harm.
I plead that no exemptions to the "position limits" regulation be further allowed and that those that do already exist be eliminated.
