Agenda Day 2
Thursday, November 20, 2008

8:00 – 9:30 a.m.
Bonus Biodiesel Breakfast
Sponsored by World Energy

Hear from one of the most respected producers in the marketplace about the current state of the biodiesel industry.

9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Hedging & Risk Strategies – Part 1: Determining Your Hedging Objectives
Chad Martin, Executive Vice President, Eco-Energy
Chad Martin

Getting a handle on your company’s risk profile is a critical first step toward a successful hedging strategy. You’ll need to firmly establish your company’s hedging objectives in order to determine the strategies that are best suited for your business. Risk management veteran Chad Martin walks you through the ins and outs of understanding “basis” and calculating your price/margin exposure.

11:30 – 11:45 a.m.
Box Lunch
11:45 a.m.
Board Buses for the CME Group
(formerly known as the Chicago Board of Trade)
12:30 – 2:00 p.m.
Special Tour – CME Group Trading Floor


Take an exclusive tour of the CME Group’s trading floor and witness traders in action! The CME Group is a leading futures and options exchange. More than 3,600 CME Group members trade 50 different futures and options products at the exchange through open auction and/or electronically.

2:00 – 2:45 p.m.
The Ethanol Contract
CME Group Representative

Now that you’ve seen floor trading in action, we’ll take some time to outline all that’s going on, how to interpret trading activities and how you can be a participant. But before diving full force into risk management strategies, it’s important to understand the CME Group’s ethanol contract specifications and what they mean for your business.

2:45 – 3:00 p.m.
Refreshment Break
3:00 – 4:15 p.m.
Hedging & Risk Strategies – Part 2: Managing Biofuels Producers Risk
Pete Nessler, Vice President, Renewable Fuels Group, FC Stone
Pete Nessler

We’ve shown you biofuels risk management from the blenders’ perspective, now learn how producers quantify risk. Feedstock costs, carry risk, transport fees, product values, DDG off take agreements and built-in operating costs all factor in to what makes an ethanol or biodiesel plant a boom or a bust. Our expert instructor will concentrate on crush margins, including discussion of fixed costs, inputs and outputs. And he’ll explore the supply/demand picture of plantings, production, usage, forward outlooks and more. Learn how these economic pressures can be hedged and managed like industry leaders do.

4:15 – 5:00 p.m.
Hedging & Risk Strategies – Part 3: Planning for Crush Margins, Carry Out and Future Trends
Pete Nessler, Vice President, Renewable Fuels Group, FC Stone

In our final session on hedging and risk management strategies, we’ll cover simple and advanced financial instruments available to producers to manage crush margins. Futures and over-the-counter swaps will be explained, and we’ll examine storage dynamics and how they’ll affect price and supply. And finally, we’ll turn an eye to the future and explore planting and carry-out trends and developments, then examine future corn, ethanol and gasoline supply and demand curves.

5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Cocktails with the Instructors
Hosted by the CME Group