Three top agricultural ETFs gained as much as 27% in the past year as the broader market declined, providing exposure to commodities bolstered by a rising U.S. dollar and crude oil prices. Teucrium Soybean Fund, Teucrium Corn Fund, and Teucrium Wheat Fund own commodities futures contracts and have outperformed the S&P 500 Index in the past 12 months.
Key Takeaways
- Agricultural commodities outperformed the broader market over the past year.
- The top-performing agricultural commodities ETFs ranked by 1-year performance are the Teucrium Soybean, Corn, and Wheat funds.
- The sole holdings of these ETFs are futures contracts for soybeans, corn, and wheat, respectively.
Four distinct agricultural commodity ETFs trade in the United States, excluding inverse and leveraged funds as well as funds with less than $50 million in assets under management (AUM). These ETFs provide exposure soley to agricultural commodities which, measured by the S&P GSCI Agriculture Index, rose 12% compared with an 8% drop for the S&P 500 Index over the last year as of Dec. 1, 2022.
We examine the three top agricultural commodity ETFs below. All numbers are as of Dec. 1, 2022.
- Performance Over One Year: 27.2%
- Expense Ratio: 0.24%
- Annual Dividend Yield: N/A
- Three-Month Average Daily Volume: 52,720
- Assets Under Management: $68.7 million
- Inception Date: Sept. 19, 2011
- Issuer: Teucrium
The ETF is structured as a commodity pool, an investment vehicle that pools investors’ assets to invest in futures. The fund’s sole holdings are futures contracts on soybeans, which are used for feed, oils, wood substitutes, foam, ink, and crayons, among other uses. The ETF may be useful to my investors for short-term exposure to a narrow part of the agricultural market.
- Performance Over One Year: 24.3%
- Expense Ratio: 0.25%
- Annual Dividend Yield: N/A
- Three-Month Average Daily Volume: 218,120
- Assets Under Management: $189.3 million
- Inception Date: June 9, 2010
- Issuer: Teucrium
The fund is a commodity pool targeting one of the most widely used agriculture products globally and its holdings are solely of corn futures contracts of multiple maturities. Corn is used as feed, fuel, starch, sweetener, and even in plastic. Investors may find the fund attractive as a hedge against inflation or simply as a tactical tilt toward a segment of the agricultural market within a broader portfolio.
- Performance Over One Year: 4.5%
- Expense Ratio: 0.22%
- Annual Dividend Yield: N/A
- Three-Month Average Daily Volume: 1,707,528
- Assets Under Management: $292.1 million
- Inception Date: Sept. 19, 2011
- Issuer: Teucrium
WEAT also is structured as a commodity pool that provides exposure to the price of one of the most important agricultural commodities, wheat. Demand for wheat is growing dramatically, fueled by global population growth. It has uses as food, animal feed, fuel, starch, paper, particleboard, and plastic. Note that WEAT does not provide exposure to spot wheat prices, but rather holds primarily wheat futures contracts across a variety of maturities. Given WEAT’s targeted focus, the ETF may be best for investors interested in short-term positions rather than buy-and-hold investments.
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