A

Agro‑industrial crops — Crops used primarily for industrial processing rather than direct consumption.
Agricensus — Fastmarkets brand covering agricultural commodity pricing and analysis.
Availability — The volume of product accessible to the market within a delivery period.

B

Basis — The price difference between a local physical market and a reference price.
Biofuel — Fuel produced from agricultural feedstocks such as grains, oils or sugars.
Blended fuel — Fuel containing a mix of bio‑based and fossil components.

C

Calendar spread — The price difference between contracts or delivery periods.
Capacity — Maximum output of a processing plant under normal conditions.
Carryover stocks — Inventory remaining at the end of a marketing year.
Cash price — The price for immediate physical delivery.
Certification — Verification that production meets defined sustainability or quality standards.
Crush margin — The difference between the value of processed outputs and raw input costs.

D

Delivered price — A price including transport to the buyer’s location.
Demand — The quantity buyers are willing to purchase at prevailing prices.
Distillers grains — By‑product of ethanol production used as animal feed.

E

Edible oils — Vegetable oils used for food consumption.
Ethanol — Alcohol fuel produced from crops such as corn or sugarcane.
Export parity — A price adjusted to reflect export economics.

F

Feedstock — Agricultural raw material used for processing or fuel production.
Fertiliser — Nutrient product applied to crops to improve yields.
Forward market — Trading for delivery at a future date.

G

Grain — Cereal crops such as wheat, corn and barley.
Gross margin — Revenue minus variable production costs.

H

Harvest — The gathering of mature crops from fields.
Hedging — Use of financial instruments to manage price risk.

I

Index — A calculated benchmark price derived from defined market data.
Inventory — Stocks of agricultural commodities held by producers, traders or processors.

L

Logistics — Transport, storage and handling of agricultural commodities.
Long position — Exposure benefiting from rising prices.

M

Marketing year — The standard annual period used for supply‑demand analysis.
Meal — Protein‑rich by‑product of oilseed crushing.
Moisture content — The percentage of water in a crop, affecting quality and storage.

O

Oilseeds — Crops grown primarily for oil extraction, such as soybeans or rapeseed.
Open interest — The number of outstanding derivative contracts.

P

Physical market — Trade involving actual delivery of commodities.
Planting — The sowing of crops at the start of a growing cycle.
Premium — A price above a reference benchmark.
Processing margin — The profitability of converting raw crops into finished products.

R

Reference price — A benchmark used to value related transactions.
Risk management — Strategies used to manage price and supply uncertainty.

S

Short position — Exposure benefiting from falling prices.
Soft commodities — Agricultural products such as grains, oilseeds and sugar.
Spot market — Short‑term purchasing activity for near‑term delivery.
Supply — The volume of product available to the market.

T

Trade flow — Movement of commodities between regions.
Transportation cost — Expense of moving goods from origin to destination.

U

Use ratio — Consumption relative to available supply in a marketing year.

V

Volatility — Degree of price movement over time.
Vegetable oils — Oils derived from oilseeds and other crops.

W

Weather risk — The impact of weather on crop yields and supply.
World balance — Global comparison of supply, demand and stocks.

Y

Yield — The amount of crop produced per unit of land.