In this edition we looks at apples, oranges and juice markets; we pose questions to EEX; and announce the arrival of GMEX as a new member. Steve Hanke’s ‘Letter from America’ places Venezuela under the microscope

In the 60th SDR newsletter we cover an interview with Norman Hay (ex-CEO Cargill International): can firms be “too big to fail”?; there’s a piece on oil hedging from Simon Jacques, the ‘Trade Finance Shipping Wizard’; and we review the struggling Greek economy.

We look at the world trade of secondary commodities; discuss bringing competition to the value chain with Abfallboerse; why volatility indexes are relevant; how the monetary approach reigns supreme; and launch this year’s Bürgenstock Meeting.

March is here and European stockmarkets are rallying as the ECB’s quantitative easing programme gets under way. It’s good news that there is enough of a consensus in Europe on policy and there does seem to be some signs of economic recovery on the continent. Is it all just serendipity?

At this time of the year, we English often say, ‘beware the ides of March’ as usually, after the euphoria surrounding the incoming of a new year and the sense of renewal that we experience, we often tend to come down to earth with the bump as the months follow.

More than a quarter of a century ago, in 1988, the UK pound  was worth three Deutschmarks and there were a number of leading British politicians very worried about the rise of sterling and how to arrest it.The UK governments attempts to suppress the value of the currency failed with some severe economic consequences. Ring any bells?

I am delighted to write to you for the first time as Executive Director of the Swiss Futures & Options Association. I took over in late summer at the Association’s last AGM and would like to lay out some of the plans we have for SFOA in the coming months!