International Fine Wine Investment Community is a community environment with the aim of helping independent wine investors to gather information and share their experience and opinions. ifwic.org offers its visitors a whole host of useful information (including wine investment guides, tips, analysis, historical data and investment indices) in order to help them make informed investment choices.

“We currently have around 1000 members and 15000 page views per month,” says Lenka Fernandes of www.ifwic.org. “New users are registering daily with visitors  mainly from the UK, USA, France, Hong Kong and Singapore.”

A number of useful tools and features are available to all registered members:

• Wine Investment Simulator
  A virtual environment simulating a real time wine acquisition and investment performance. The Wine Investment Simulator helps users to test their investment skills by virtually “buying” and “selling” investment wines, at no risk.
• Favourite Wine List
  The database of investment wines contains around 400 different wines. To track only wines of personal interest, all community members can build their Favourite Wine List from the database.
• Favourite Providers
  Every registered user can store their favourite service providers in their Favourite Providers list.
• Data Download
  All community members have at their disposal all source data to enable them to make their own calculations and analysis.
• Trends and Forecasts
  Price trends and investment forecasts are also available to all our community members to aid their investment decisions.

Additionally, professional community members have the following management tools at their disposal:

• Pro-members´Blog
  All professional members have the opportunity to promote their own business and build an expert reputation by publishing their articles to the ifwic.org Wine Investment Blog section.
• Directory Listing
  All professional members are entitled to an entry in the Directory Listing, including a business description, location (including map), opening hours and contact details.

Coming soon is the launch of the Portfolio Evaluator – all registered members will be able to  use the free Portfolio Evaluator service to keep track of their investment wines and check how their value evolves with time. It will be possible to import and export all necessary information concerning your investment wines including warehousing information, pricing data etc.

The wine investment market is seeing phenomenal growth – sparking serious interest among investors – and www.ifwic.org aims to help its members to successfully capitalise on the rewards offered from the increasing demands of the marketplace.

• India remains the largest country for demand with 933.4t, which is notable considering the volatility of the gold price and the weakness of the Indian rupee against the US dollar during the second half of the year. Gold jewellery accounted for over 500t and the investment market demand reached 366.0t. Indian demand accounted for 25% of total bar and coin demand worldwide.
• In China, annual demand of 769.8t was up 20% year-on-year as a result of increases in both jewellery and investment. The largest rise was in investment, where demand of 258.9t with the value of RMB84.5billion leaped 69%. China& nbsp;jewellery demand increased every quarter of last year and was the largest single jewellery market worldwide for the second half of 2011.

There was also a surge in demand in Europe with the region posting its seventh consecutive annual gain to 374.8t. Germanyand Switzerland were the main drivers of growth in the region as the eurozone remains in turmoil and the need for asset protection continues to be a priority. Central banks continued the trend established in 2010 of being net buyers of gold. Purchases by central banks soared from 77.0t to 439.7t. This reflects the need to diversify assets, reduce reliance on one or two foreign currencies, rebalance reserves and ultimately protect national wealth. Marcus Grubb, Managing Director, Investment at the World Gold Council remarked, “What we can see from these 2011 figures is that there were two main factors driving the results: Asian growth and optimism on the one hand and western desire to protect assets against uncertainty on the other. Looking particularly at Asia, there was a major boost to the overall figures from the increase in Chinese demand, which is a trend that we see continuing over the next year. It i s likely that China will emerge as the largest gold market in the world for the first time in 2012. What is certain is that the long-term fundamentals for gold remain strong, with a diverse and growing demand base, coupled with constrained supply side activity.” Gold Demand Statistics for 2011:

• On the supply side, gold mine production reached a new annual record of 2,809.5t, 4% up on 2010. Recycling was down 2% year on year to 1,611.9t, which when average price rises of 28% are taken into account, indicates that near-market supplies are drying up and that consumers may be holding on to their gold in the expectation of higher prices.
• Gold used in electronics was up 1.1% to 330.4t worth a record US$16.7billion, which is unexpected considering the increase in cost. Annual demand for technology as a whole was steady at 463.5t due to growth prim arily in the Chinese market. The value of this tonnage increased dramatically by 28% to a record US$23.4billion.
• The value of jewellery demand in 2011 reached a new annual record of US$99.2billion. India and China continue to believe in both the intrinsic and emotional value of gold jewellery which explains why overall global jewellery demand was resilient despite high gold prices, difficult economic conditions, volatility and currency weakness against the US dollar. Annual demand was 1,962.9t down 3% from 2010.
• One major element of fourth quarter investment relates to the significant increase of inflow into gold ETFs to 86.8t in Q4 2011 compared to just 22.3t in Q4 2010.  The annual comparison is much weaker as inflows of 154.0t for 2011 are significantly lower than 367.7t for 2010, although this should be seen in the context of 2010 being an exceptional year.
• Demand for gold bars and coins continues to be robust and was another major contributor of the increase in investment demand, which climbed 24% to 1,486.7t.
• A record gold price of US$1,895/oz was set on the London PM fix on September 5th and 6th 2011.

It is a big year for Carbon Credits as they are set to come into their own at the end of 2012 when the Kyoto Protocol expires. The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement setting targets for industrialised countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions.

The expiration of this agreement will see a large rise in Voluntary Emissions Reductions (VERs) which are a type of credit that fall outside the guidelines and obligations of Kyoto, and thus open up a wider range of initiatives designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This sort of investment can not only be profitable but is hugely satisfying as an investor knows that he or she is helping the environment too.

Another benefit of alternative investments is that they are tangible. If an investor buys bonds, more often than not they will feel little attachment to the investment. However alternative investments provide the investor with the opportunity to enjoy and get practical use from their investments whilst still making money on them. For example if an investor decided to invest in a plot of land, they could easily use it as an allotment for example without losing any value on the land.

Likewise some investors enjoy investing in commodities for the same reasons. Collecting things is a hobby for a lot of people and can easily be turned into a profitable investment. Many people invest in fine wines and enjoy the excitement of building up an eclectic cellar as much as they do making money on it.

Equally by owning something tangible, alternative investments provide welcome psychological security for investors. In the current turbulent economic climate, investors are fearful of the value of their investment suddenly plummeting or a company sliding out of business.

Alternative investments can be comforting for investors, which is often why, at Tullett Brown, we see so many of our investors take physical delivery of their investments. In 2010 just 1% of our clients took physical delivery of their commodities but that figure shot up to 10% in 2011.

Often an investor will sleep better knowing their investment is locked up in their safe, its value protected, rather than fluctuating at the mercy of the markets.

This psychology goes back to the days of the Great Depression in the 1930s when the Executive Order 6102 saw the hoarding of gold made illegal by the US government and the metal was confiscated by authorities. At the time this led to a deep mistrust of the market and people from then onwards started to take delivery of the gold from goldsmiths to keep it locked up and safe.

The parallels that his has with the public’s mistrust of the modern banking system, hardly needs pointing out, which is why, in this uncertain global climate, the security of alternative investments is an attractive feature for any savvy investor.

By Dan Fox, Senior Portfolio Manager at City commodities broker Tullett Brown

Food prices have exploded in the last few years, and the United Nations recently estimated that global food production will need to grow 70% by 2050. With population expected to surge from 6 billion people today to 9.1 billion in 2050, and the amount of arable farmland in the world actually on a downward trend, many commentators believe farmland investment is the trade of the century.

Not surprisingly, there has been a huge surge of farmland investment by large institutions such as Sovereign Wealth funds, reflecting increasing global concerns around the issue of food security.

“The advantages of investing in farmland are considerable,” stated Josh Cohne, Partner at GreenWorld, “farmland investments are a great way to take advantage of continued high agricultural commodity prices, farmland is an excellent inflation hedge and it is also an investment that pays high current income.

GreenWorld farmland investment was also specifically designed to be both profitable as well as socially responsible. Cohne noted that all of the rice crop from the farmland investment is sold locally within the country, that the local population makes up almost the entire workforce, and that a substantial community investment program exists to build local schools, roads and health clinics, making the project a win-win for both investors and the local population.

Canvassing the opinions of 120 leading merchants, auction houses and investment fund managers in the fine wine sector, the survey shows an overcorrection in the second half of last year has led to good opportunities for buyers.

The Fine Wine Market Outlook 2012 is a joint report by journalist-based intelligence service Wealthmonitor and online magazine Wine Yields.

Almost 60% of respondents said they expected the fine wine market to increase in value over the year, with most those expecting gains of 10%. Just 12% expected the market to fall further. Most respondents felt last year’s en-primeur campaign damaged consumer sentiment, and said 10 to 15% price reductions were necessary for the 2011 campaign to restore consumer favour.

The size of reductions required varied depending on the region. Asian respondents answered that a 10% decline would suffice, while Europeans said reductions of 20% or more were necessary. Despite the Bordeaux backlash, the survey showed only limited shifts away from Bordeaux to other wines. Respondents still overwhelmingly selected Bordeaux to lead market gains in 2012.

Wine Yields publisher Jackson Taylor said: “After two years of strong growth in 2009 and 2010, indices for investment grade wine closed 2011 down 10-20% for the year, with some wines recording a fall of 45%. The report today suggests that sectors of the market have been oversold, providing some of the best buying opportunities wine collectors and investors have seen in several years.”

As for Bordeaux, he said the survey showed “damage isn’t yet irreparable”, but delivered a message – “get this year’s en primeur pricing right”.

Download the full report (5 MB):   English 中文版

Written by Gemma McKenna

The UK government launched consultations last week on a raft of proposed changes, notably on a system for gradually reducing support (or ‘tariff degression’) for solar photovoltaic (PV) installations, which were subject to a controversial decision to slash subsidies last year.

However, this aspect was largely irrelevant to the crop of UK fund managers who use tax-efficient vehicles to invest in renewable energy projects, as the government last year decided to exclude FiT-qualifying solar and wind projects from venture capital trusts (VCTs) and enterprise investment schemes (EISs) from April 2012.

The cut to the solar tariff “doesn’t make any difference to us”, said David Gammond, asset manager at Goldfield Partners, as the firm has already identified the solar projects it will invest in, all of which qualify for the pre-12 December 2011 tariff of £0.43 ($0.67) per kWh. London-based Goldfields has raised £10 million into a solar EIS fund and is seeking to raise a further series of three £2 million EISs before the April deadline.

Shane Gallwey, a London-based investment manager at Guinness Asset Management, who runs two solar-focused renewable energy EIS funds, said the latest proposal will not affect any of its investments.

He welcomed the news that the government had more than doubled its budget for FiTs, to £2.2 billion from £867 million over April 2010-April 2015, and said he was delighted about the clarity on hydro, anaerobic digestion and wind tariffs out to 2020. Furthermore, the proposed preliminary accreditation process – so that projects with long lead times are guaranteed their tariff before installation is complete – will be a “big help”.

“Putting in place some sort of process whereby there will be visibility on tariffs will encourage investment,” he said, but he added that “obviously having lower tariffs is less of an incentive”.

Gallwey said the change to the VCT and EIS eligibility means that Guinness will not be raising money to invest in solar projects, but hydro and anaerobic digestion will be a focus, as will energy efficiency.

Jamie Richards, head of infrastructure at Foresight Group, said the firm would continue to monitor the UK’s regulatory climate before committing more capital to the sector. Foresight runs several solar VCT and EIS funds and over the last year has invested £150 million in renewables projects, predominantly solar PV in the UK and Italy.

“The UK FiT regulations have been anything but predictable and we made a decision more than a year ago to acquire larger ground-based projects that were operational and had locked in the pre-1 August 2011 FiT rate,” Richards said. “We have completed our current UK solar investment programme on this basis.”

Nonetheless, Richards was encouraged by the UK government’s renewed focus on infrastructure investment, and said environmental projects can continue to be structured to provide infrastructure-like risk-return profiles for investors.

For example, waste-to-energy and waste recycling projects can provide steady cashflows, he said, if the technology is appropriately matched to the waste stream.

Source : Environmental Finance

Christopher Cundy

The awards span ten categories including biofuels leadership, technology, adoption, bioethanol, biodiesel, feedstock innovation, innovation in aviation, biopower generation, and bio-based chemicals. The unique “Green Shoots Award” is voted on by others in the biofuels industry to recognise peers showing great promise and growth potential. Voting is now open at: www.sustainablebiofuelsawards.com .

“We had thousands of nominations from around the world and across the entire biofuels value chain, accordingly the shortlist represents the industry’s finest,” said Nadim Chaudhry, Chief Executive Officer of Green Power Conferences, organiser of the awards and conference. “These companies have shown the determination and innovation needed to create and implement changes to the status quo to meet growing global energy demands while protecting our environment.”

The 2012 Sustainable Biofuels Awards are being judged by an elite panel of independent industry experts including Suzanne Hunt, Senior Advisor, Carbon War Room, Rob Vierhout, Secretary General, ePURE, Plinio Nastari, President, Datagro, Jim Lane, Editor, Biofuels Digest, Dr. Geng Anli, President, BioEnergy Society of Singapore and Lola Una Cardenas, Chief Representative in the EU, Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association.

The final awards will be presented as part of the World Biofuels Markets, taking place March 13-15, 2012 at the Beurs-World Trade Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The event is expected to draw more than 1,500 attendees from 80 countries and boasts 260 expert speakers covering key topics such as Aviation, Sustainability, Finance & Investment, Biofuels from Waste, and Advanced Biofuels. Co-located with the World Biofuels Markets Congress and Exhibition will be the Bio-Based Chemicals and Biopower Generation conferences featuring the leading companies and technologies within these growing sectors.

More information on the awards, conference agenda, and registration is available at www.worldbiofuelsmarkets.com . You can also follow World Biofuels Markets on Twitter @wbmnews, or join the LinkedIn World Biofuels Market NEWS group, to receive updates and information.

However, with the global population rising fast, and large areas of farmland previously used for food production being transformed into fields of bio fuel crops, the pressure on our food supply is growing.

Even today’s top philanthropist, Bill Gates, has turned his attentions to the issue of global food shortages, redistributing funds from his Gates Foundation to the research, development and protection of agricultural lands and techniques.

Food and soft commodity prices have hit record highs with UK wheat prices reaching £200 per tonne in 2010. There is simply not enough food being produced to meet demand and with the OECD estimating that production must increase by 70 per cent before 2050 to satisfy global population growth, will farmland be new the green gold of 2012?

As a tangible asset, farmland is highly appealing to investors, especially those cautious of volatile stocks, shares and bonds. Investment in agricultural land is based simply on supply and demand and similarly to gold, has remained one of the most robust asset classes in recent times.

For years cash-rich and land-poor nations have been purchasing agricultural land in overseas shores such as the US, Australia, Russia and South American nations in order to protect themselves from food scarcity as well as enjoy the lucrative returns. And now this trend has sparked a desire for individual investors to own their slice of farmland.

Ray Withers, of international investment agency Property Frontiers, which specialises in alternative asset classes, said: “As an investor, I always consider the fundamental elements of supply and demand behind any investment. Today the pressure we place upon our land is vast and global food shortages are clearly apparent which suggests to me that investing in high performance agricultural land, in the right location and via the right investment structure would be a wise and ethical choice in 2012.”

The case for investing in gold was boosted again yesterday as the Bank of England announced it was increase its money printing programme by a further £50bn as an impetus to growth.

The BoE will now aim to have £325bn of government paper in its asset buying program.

Marcus Grubb, managing director, investment, at the World Gold Council said the measure was necessary given the threat of a shrinking economy, “but it is likely to increase the risk of higher inflation and prompt investors to seek assets, such as gold, which can act as a hedge against rising prices.”

A study conducted by the London Business School and released by Credit Suisse this week showed that gold is one of the only two asset classes – inflation-linked bonds the other – that have had positive sensitivity, of about 0.3, to inflation since 1900.

Fear of sharply rising prices from central banks pumping liquidity into the system last year already helped push gold beyond $1,900 per troy ounce in September.

It has jumped almost $16 today in New York, but US economic data that often surprised positively this year has seen the spot price fall from last year’s highs, to about $1,747 now.

But the WGC’s Grubb said: “As a time-tested store of value which cannot be artificially devalued by policy makers, as well as a proven hedge against inflation, gold has a key role to play in preserving wealth in a world characterised by policy intervention, heightened risk and ongoing uncertainty.”

He added that measures elsewhere in the world – such as America’s Federal Reserve keeping interest rates very low for at least two years, Asia’s central banks easing liquidity, and China considering further relaxation of bank reserve requirements – could also boost liquidity.

Asset managers and allocators gave a mixed response to the program’s expansion.

Peter Hensman, global strategist at Newton Investment Management, said the move was right because of the risks to the UK economy from Continental Europe and slow domestic growth, and the expectation that UK inflation as measured by CPI will fall from its current 4.2% (December).

“With this vast pool of gilts already owned by the Bank, arguably the greater question is what the Monetary Policy Committee can do next if they believe further stimulus is required,” Hensman added.

Britain’s pensions were not so neutral.

Joanne Segars, chief executive of their trade body, the National Association of Pension Funds, said: “People retiring now are finding that annuity rates have been squashed by quantitative easing, and that they will get a smaller pension than they expected. The Bank’s money printing leaves them out of pocket for the rest of their lives.

“For the companies that run final salary pensions, QE is a headache which pushes their pension funds further into the red. This means businesses have to put more money into their pension schemes, instead of spending it on jobs and investment.”

She said, however, the NAPF did appreciate the need for a stronger economy.

“But we think the last hit of QE increased [UK] pension fund deficits by around £45bn, and the latest tranche will only add to that bill.”

With over 100 turbines generating power for around 320,000 homes, the Walney project is regarded as the world’s biggest offshore wind farm. It will be officially launched on Thursday, by the British government.