WASHINGTON, D.C.— Cantrell Dumas, Director of Derivatives Policy, issued the following statement in connection with a Fact Sheet on Consumer Protection Position Limits, ahead of the House Agriculture Committee hearing titled “The CFTC at 50: Examining the Past and Future of Commodity Markets”:

“As the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) celebrates its 50th anniversary, it’s important to reflect on its role in protecting the public from excess speculation in commodity markets, especially at a time when families are struggling with the rising cost of basic necessities like food, gas, and electricity.

“One of the most important tools the CFTC uses to help protect Main Street Americans’ pocketbooks is position limits. These limits are guardrails designed to stop large traders from hoarding too many commodity contracts. These commodity contracts cover essential goods like oil, gas, and wheat and allow businesses to lock in prices for the future in order to protect themselves from sudden price swings, which in turn helps keep the cost of groceries, gas, or airline tickets down.

“Because position limits protect consumers from artificially inflated prices and volatile price swings, they should be known as Consumer Protection Position Limits. But even though these limits were revised in 2021, the CFTC still hasn’t provided a report required by law showing whether they’re actually working. Without that transparency, consumers are left in the dark, and it raises serious questions about whether the limits are doing their job or being properly enforced.

“With the House Agriculture Committee hearing scheduled for tomorrow, Congress should hold the CFTC accountable to fulfill its responsibility. That means conducting a real, transparent, commodity-by-commodity assessment and making clear whether the public is being protected or not. If the rules are failing, the CFTC must act to fix them.”

The Fact Sheet is available here.

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