Market risk and the cattle feeding margin: An application of Value-at-Risk

Value-at-Risk, known as VaR, gives a prediction with a certain level of confidence of potential portfolio losses that may be encountered over a specified time period due to adverse price movements in the portfolio’s assets. For example, a VaR of 1 million dollars at the 95% level of confidence implies that overall portfolio losses should not exceed 1 million dollars more than 5% of the time over a given holding period. This research examines the effectiveness of VaR measures, developed using alternative estimation techniques, in predicting large losses in the cattle-feeding margin. Results show that several estimation techniques, both parametric and nonparametric, provide well-calibrated estimates of VaR such that violations (losses exceeding the VaR estimate) are commensurate with the desired level of confidence. In particular, estimates developed using the RiskMetrics™ method appear robust for instruments that have linear payoff structures such as cash commodity prices.