Commodity Derivatives: Markets and Applications

Acknowledgements

As ever, it would be arrogant of me to assume that this was entirely my own work. The book is dedicated to the late Paul Roth, who was taken from us far too early in life. In the decade that I knew him, I was able to benefit considerably from his insight into the world of derivatives. It never ceased to amaze me how, after days of pondering on a problem, I could only half explain to him something that I only half understood, and he could explain it back to me perfectly in simple and clear terms.

Thanks also to the team at Wiley (Sam Whittaker, Emily Pears, Viv Wickham) who have helped a publishing “newbie” like me and tolerated the fact that I missed nearly every deadline they set.

General thanks go to my father, Reg Schofield, who offered to edit large chunks of the manuscript and tidy up “the English what I wrote”. Rachel Gillingham deserves a special mention for helping me to express the underlying chemistry of a number of commodities within the book. Her input added considerable value to the overall manuscript.

At Barclays Capital I would like to thank Arfan Aziz, Natasha Cornish, Lutfey Siddiqui, Benoit de Vitry and Troy Bowler. They all have endured endless requests for help and have given generously of their time without complaint. In relation to specific chapters, thanks go to Matt Schwab and John Spaull (gold); Angus McHeath, Frank Ford and Ingrid Sternby (base metals); David Paul and Nick Smith (plastics); Thomas Wiktorowski-Schweitz, Orrin Middleton, ...