Youth Culture In A Young Adults Life

Youth Culture In A Young Adults Life Topic:Youth culture is a very big part of a young adults life. The way young adults dress, what they listen to, what they eat and what they do in their free time show how their youth culture has influenced them. It is often said that mass media plays an important role in shaping youth culture. It is also the main cause of moral decay in youths. Discuss. Thesis statement: Although the Internet may influence the youths to develop violent behavior, its benefits outweigh its disadvantages Mass media plays an important role in shaping the youth culture. As we all know that in the current modern society, internet, television, radio, newspapers, magazines and other mass media has became the inseparable elements of the teenagers life. Internet has become one of the most indispensable components of the youth generation. It provides a powerful platform for the youth to know about the world. However, the mass amount of information that it distributes may be both positive and negative to the youths. Teen who stared at group slashed to death. A very shocking headline appeared on Strait Times. (Tue, Nov 02, 2010, pg1) Violent behavior has already become the most notorious factor that contributes to the moral decay in youths nowadays. Violent behaviour is defined as any behaviour that causes another person any injury to the body that interferes with a persons health or comfort, or that places them in fear of being injured. (Victoria Legal Aid [VLA], 2009) Although the Internet m ay influence the youths to develop violent behavior, its benefits still outweigh its disadvantages. In this essay, I will discuss about what are the other factors leading to the violent behavior in youths and how internet benefits the youth. Internet has widened the youths channels of absorbing information and knowledge, but it includes those decadent and reactionary garbage information which may eventually cause the youth to get moral deviation. Website such as YouTube, a video-sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videos, allows youth to contact with violent videos easily. (Hopkins, Jim October 11, 2006) While sanguinary and violent online video game also plays a significant role in influencing the youths to develop violent behavior. Counter Strike is one of the so-called killer game where the gamer plays through the eyes of a heavily armed character and kills as many enemies as possible. The violent behavior in the game like using a knife to stab the head of an enemy can be learned by youths and in extreme cases, to kill. The overflow of information of violence has intensified the juvenile crime situation, causing variations in crime types, methods and results. In the 1980s, juvenile crime general ly involves theft, fighting, stir-up-trouble crime and etc. In the 21st century, juvenile crime progresses to banded robbery, major theft even disengaged murder, armed robbery, revenge fire-tight etc. The research shows that serious crimes criminal offence has been markedly worsen. Indeed, the huge amount of information involves violence distribute by the internet plays a part in misleading the youths to develop violent behavior. However, there are still other factors contribute to the youths moral decay. We can conclude another two main factors that lead to develop violent behavior in youths in the current society. They are the domestic violence and the peer pressure. First of all, what we learn when we are young usually come from our parents, this is also why parents are their childrens first teacher. Therefore, domestic violence is undoubtedly the number one factor which cause the youths to develop violent behavior. Domestic violence is defined as violence between intimate living together or who have previously cohabited. (Eve S. Buzawa Carl G. Buzawa, 2003) The domestic violence here is mainly referring to physical abuse. Youths are highly vulnerable to fear, anxiety and pessimism if they have been seeing family abuse or even experiencing physical abuse from their parents since they were young. Children may suffer from self-abased or even get isolated from his peers and affect their academic results and daily life. If the situation becomes severe, they may be at a greater risk of runaway or committing criminal acts. Youths will get the wrong message that its okay to abuse other people or let other people hurt them. Research by Browne and Angel a (1987) supports a third of all children who see their mothers beaten develop emotional problems, boys who see their fathers beat their mothers are ten times more likely to be abusive in their adult intimate relationships. Boys who witness family violence are more likely to batter their female partners as adults, and girls who witness their mothers abuse have a higher rate of being battered as adults. These common sense observations are fact, not myth. (Ewing Charles Patrick, 1987) It is undeniable that domestic violence is the major factor which has caused the youths to develop violent behavior. Another one of the biggest factors that lead to teenage violence behavior will be the peer pressure. Peer pressure may be especially strong during adolescence. (Kate Havelin, 2000) The teenagers unstable mentality is being a time which may easily be influenced by their peers. For example, you might decide to buy a same brand of bag that your friends have. These kinds of behavior are usually harmless, but also can lead you to make dangerous decision. For example, one of your friends might persuade you to join his gang after you had been bullied by someone else and he told you that gang can help you revenge. Matt Monteverde (2008) stated that youths cannot resist the temptation of peer pressure. Many youths who experienced violence from their peers often worry that they may get more serious revenge if they inform the teacher or parents about the violence. We should deal with violence among youths thoroughly, or else wrong message will be given to the youths that violence can be accepte d. Peer pressure can cause the victim to gradually believe that I should be the victim of violence and submit to humiliation. Eventually, peer pressure would worsen the situation of violence among the youths and severity of upgrades. Despite of being one of the factors that contributes to the development of violence in youths, internets benefits still far beyond its disadvantage. Research had done by the Miniwatts Marketing Group on the number of internet user on a single day throughout the world. The estimated internet users are 1,966,514,816 on June 31, 2010 compare to 360,985,492 on Dec 31, 2000. The result shows the popularity of internet has been increased tremendously throughout the last decade. Not only because of internets convenience and extreme speed, but also its huge amount of information. Now we can simply classify the internets benefits into three main categories: research, communication and entertainment. Firstly, youths are among the top users who surf the Internet for research. Nowadays, it is not necessary for the youth to do their research in the library as the information provided by the internet is far much more than what a book or newspaper can provide. It is almost a must for youths today to use the internet for research for the purpose of gathering resources. Teachers are encouraging their students to do research online as we can almost find any type of data on almost any kind of subject that we are looking for. Moreover, with the help of search engines like Google or Yahoo, we can get access to the information that we are looking for within just a few seconds without stepping out of the house. The efficiency and the quantity of information that internet can provide has indeed made it a virtual treasure trove of information. Communication is the most popular use of the Internet, with email topping the list of all the technologies used. (Ernest Ackermann Karen Hartman, 2000) By the advent of internet, communication among people is not only confined to telephones and letters anymore. Emails have taken over the position of letters and become the number one communication tool among human beings. Software such as MSN allows us to chat online for hours with our beloved ones and we can even keep up to date with a friend who is sitting in the other part of the world just within a fraction of second. Today, we can even see each other by using web-cam for a better communication. Internet allows us to establish a kind of global friendship where you can share your thoughts, explore other cultures of different ethnicity. Again, internet has brought people an enormous convenience on communication. Lastly, it is none other than the entertainment that internet has bring to us. Nowadays, downloading videos and music from the internet become very common among the youths. Internet has provided the platform for millions of people all over the world to exchange information and resources sharing. We can upload pictures and videos to share with overseas friends. We do not need to wait for TV series every night anymore, we can just simply surf the internet and all the series will be there for us to watch. Apart from all these, the most popular entertainment that internet has provided is internet gaming. Online game can definitely help the youths to relieve pressures on academic studies and troubles. Dawn Smith stated (2010) Internet games can help children focus. Youths who have Attention Deficit Disorder, or ADD, can actually sit for longer periods of time to play some of their favorite games. Not only does this help them keep focus, it also teaches them patience. It allows those youth s who once cannot sit for a long period of time to sit longer periods as the game can engage the youths and keep their attention. According to Steven Johnson, social critic and author of Everything Bad Is Good For You, it also engages a childs decision making process, requiring children to think on their feet. Indeed internet is a double-edged sword, just like water can float a boat, so can it swallow the ship. However, internet itself is not in wrong, the benefits it had brought to us is very obvious. The problem now is lies on how are we going to use and control it. Therefore, the ability of self-control is very important for the youths and helping the youths to develop a healthy lifestyle should be our number one objective instead of blaming Internet for been the cause of developing violent behavior in youths. While the domestic violence and peer pressures are the major cause of violence in youths today. Internets benefits outweigh its disadvantages and it has truly become mans best tool in the 21st century.

Burger King Factors Of Production Essay

Capitol Capital goods are any tangible assets that an organisation uses to produce goods and services e.g. buildings, machinery and equipment. At a national level, burger king develops and creates new capital goods (machinery). For example, with the aim to minimize waste Burger king developed the kitchen minder. The kitchen minder monitors the amount of sales on previous days and estimates how many patties, fries and other ingredients burger king will need to prepare. This minimises waste significantly and therefore reduces costs. with reduced costs the difference between sale price and costs will increase meaning burger king has increased profits. Another very important capital good is the flame broiler. The flame broiler is a capital good because it is a piece of machinery used to produce other goods. At a national level, burger king developed the new broiler to decreases energy costs, labour costs and to enhance the flavour of patties. Because these broilers don’t run all day and use less fuel the average restaurant can save up to 40% on its monthly energy costs, Making it worthwhile to install and invest the broilers into New Zealand burger king restaurants. At a local level the flame broiler is constantly used and is managed carefully. Staff must put the required numbers of patties (as indicated by the kitchen minder) onto the broiler tray and turn on the broiler. The patties are then stored in heated containers and are ready to make burgers. If the patties are not used up within ten minutes then they must be thrown out. Although the patties are physically thrown out at a local level, the time of when to throw them out (ten minutes) is decided at a national level. The consequences on society of burger kings decision to use the new flame broiler is that burger king customers (particularly past customers) may not like the new flavour of the patties and could stop eating at burger king. however it is more likely that members of society will enjoy the new patties and therefore buy more of burger kings meals. burger kings decision to throw out 10 minute old patties will also mean society will eat more burger king as the burgers are fresher. therefore burger king has a negative effect on the health of society. the new flame broiler also has a positive impact on the workers because it may be easier and less time consuming to operate the broiler, resulting in less work for employees. Land Land is a very important factor of production as it is with land that burger king can runs its company. At a national level burger king must make important decisions about which piece of land will ultimately give the most profit e.g. airports, universities and sites close to popular attractions, are all sites that usually provide many sales. The hillcrest burger king is strategically situated on an elevated piece of land on cambridge road so that the large number of cars that pass by can easily see the burger king restaurant. If people see the shop, it is likely they will be tempted to purchase from burger king. Therefore the more people that see the shop, the more revenue and profit that burger king will receive. the consequences on society of this strategic positioning is that the large number of cars that drive on cambridge road are likely to eat burger king more often more and therefore have increased health problems. Another way that burger king manages its land at a national level is by choosing how much space the car park, eating lobby, storage etc. takes up. Nationally, burger king has decided to remove many of the restaurants play grounds. The benefits of this decision are that burger king can sell the playground to increase profits and can put the extra land to good use e.g. use the extra land to build an outdoor eating area. The negative effects  of removing the playgrounds is that burger king will not appeal to small children, resulting in less families eating at burger king and therefore a decrease in sales, revenue and profit for burger king. the consequences on society of t he decision to add an outdoor eating area is that consumers will be able to eat in fresh air so some consumers will have a greater eating experience. This outdoor eating feature could appeal to some members of society meaning that consumers will buy more burgers, resulting in an increase in health problems for society. by not having playgrounds less young children are going to eat at burger king which will result in an increase in the health of young children. At a local level, the management of the land can be split into two parts: management outside the restaurant and management inside the restaurant. Outside the restaurant, burger king will clean graffiti of their restaurant and off all their advertisements and also pick up rubbish off nearby footpaths. This will increase labour and  cleaning costs for burger king. inside the restaurant, burger king locally must manage the cleanliness of the land. this means making sure the floor is always clean and dry, the toilets are clean and there is no chewing gum or other food stuck to tables. burger king takes cleanliness serious because if the environment in which customers eat is healthy and clean the customers are likely to continue to shop at burger king, resulting in an increase in profit. the consequences on society of burger kings local cleaning decisions is that consumers will not be put off by rubbish and graffiti that would have been associated with burger king and therefore be more inclined to eat at burger king. it also means that the environment around burger king will be cleaner and more respectable. Labour Labour resources are the workers/employees that are needed to operate a business. at a national level burger king develops a training programme​  to train and educate new staff about what is  required and expected of them. new staff must spend 1 month practising at each station while under supervision of the manager e.g. practising at the cashier, cleaning equipment, making burgers etc. burger king invests a lot of time into the training of their new staff so that they do not need to be constantly supervised and that they are able to work fast and at a high standard at each station. nationally, burger will also determine how many workers are needed per restaurant. for example, hillcrest burger king is relatively large compared to other burger king restaurants and therefore it is likely that will have need more staff (total of 39 staff on their roster). at a local level, the manager will make decisions and assign important tasks to workers (depending on how busy it is) so t hat each staff member is working at a specific stage in the production process. This is specialisation. as the worker does their specific task over and over again they will become more experienced and more efficient, resulting in an increase in productivity and economies of scale (where a firm’s output increases, the average cost per unit produced falls). to keep up with orders, the manager may call in employees and have them work at an even more specific task in the production process e.g. 1 person cooking the patties, 1  person putting the fillings in and another person wrapping, rather than having just one person doing everything. this increases specialisation. by having more workers, labour costs will increase, but burger king is able to produce food much quicker and keep with the orders. this will result in a reputation of quick service which means customers are likely to return. at a national level burger king has decide to have on call staff. if business is slow, the local manager may decide to send some staff home (as they are not needed as much ) thus, decreasing labour costs. If business is fast, the local manager may decide to call in workers. this is flexible labour. the consequences on society of burger kings  decision for workers to only work on one part of the production process (specialization) has had a positive effect on some members of society but a negative effect on the employees. the positive effect on society is that consumers will receive a greater quality product and they are likely to get their burgers quicker. (due to workers gaining more experience). however the negative effect on the workers is that may become very bored while working (as they have little variation in their task). burger kings decision to have flexible labour has also had a negative effect on the workers because it is harder for them to make a schedule and they may be interrupted when doing something important Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is the ability to take risks and organise all other resources and factors of production. at a national level, all the decisions that burger king makes are entrepreneurial decisions e.g the decisions regarding land, labour and capital. however, burger king will train the local managers to ensure their decisions involving the business are beneficial and ultimately profitable for burger king. this extra training for managers is an increased cost for burger king however, it is likely that the time invested into the mangers will pay off because they will make better decisions about burger kings local operations. at a local level entrepreneurship is managed by the manager. the manager must make decisions about what will give burger the most profit. for example, if staff are making and serving burgers before the required time, the manager will call  in staff meetings to discuss the problem as to why production is slowing down. With the extra training that burger king provides the managers with, the manager should be able to solve the problem. the manager could make changes in the production process or staff roster or the manager may even decide to lay off workers. it is also the local managers decision and responsibility as to if some staff get a promotion and/or pay rise. promotions act as an incentive to employees to work more productively and efficiently. the more efficient the staff are, the more profit that burger king will receive making it worthwhile to offer promotions and pay rises. the consequences on society of these entrepreneurial decisions is that customers are likely to get a better quality meal and a quicker. Commercial Goals All producers have goals. Burger king’s overall objective is to maximise profits. However, to maximise profits, burger king has more commercial goals such as: -Sales maximisation- when a firm wants to sell as much as possible without making a loss. -Increased market share- when a firm wants a greater share of the market e.g. dominating the fast food industry. -Cost reduction- when a firm wants to decrease the cost of their products without making a loss (increasing the margin between sale price and cost per product). -Business expansion- when a firm wants to increase the number of stores that consumers can buy from. Burger kings goal of business expansion has had positive and negative consequences on members of society. Burger king’s business expansion negatively affects other smaller fast food business e.g. Local fish and chip shops because some consumers will switch buying from small businesses and start buying at the new burger king. The lack of sales for these small businesses (caused by burger king) will result in less revenue and profit. This could even result in the closure of small businesses and therefore the government may have to provide more benefits for the unemployed. Although burger king’s business expansion has had a huge negative effect on small local businesses, it has a positive effect on local  unemployed citizens (particularly students). As new restaurants are launched, staff and managers are required for the running of the restaurant; this creates new job opportunities and therefore income for some members of society. If burger king expands its business, more fatty food will be available for society. This is a negative effect on society as more people will become overweight and unhealthy. Non-Commercial Goals Burger king also has many non-commercial goals that are very important. Some of these goals include: -Minimising the impact that they have on the environment -Purchasing from national and local suppliers (rather than purchasing from overseas) -Supporting charitable organisations-such as canteen -Supporting and organising local sport- such as the  Basketball tournament These non-commercial goals require burger king to either donate, fund or increase unneeded costs. This contradicts burger kings overall goal of profit maximisation. However, by helping and supporting New Zealand charities and the local community, many members of society may feel loyal to burger king for the good they do, and therefore shop at burger king more often instead of shopping at competitors. Price strategies Pricing is one of the most important elements for the success for burger king, as it is with price strategies that the goals of burger king can be achieved. One price strategy that burger king has in place is the ‘Burger king Change Range’. Burger king reduces the price of singular items e.g. Medium frozen coke from $2.00 to $1.00 BBQ beef burger from $3.50 to $2.00 so customers come into the shop or drive thru for their cheap item and then are offered other regular (more expensive) items. Burger king may not be making any profit on the change range items (as the selling price may not be greater than the costs to make it), however the other items that customers buy will give burger king increased sales. The negative effects of this price strategy are that it reduces the profit made on the change range items and it could also result in a price war if competitors cut their prices to compete. However, the strategy will satisfy burger kings goals of sales  maximisation and increased market share. If customers buy a significant amount of regular priced items then the price strategy may also satisfy burger king’s most important goal of profit maximisation. the consequences on society of this price strategy is the burgers become more affordable, so consumers will spend an increased proportion of their income on these cheap  burgers as they are saving more of their income. This can result in health problems and even obesity for some members of society. Non price strategies Non price strategies are methods other than price reduction that a firm uses to achieve their goals. This involves product variation and product differentiation. Product variation is the process that highlights and promotes actual differences amongst products. Burger king uses product variation with the whopper burger range. The six burgers vary in size and ingredients e.g. double whopper with cheese, whopper JR without cheese etc. this variation amongst burger kings signature meal, is put in place to compete with competitors (e.g. McDonald’s big mac) and to appeal to different tastes and income levels of consumers. Therefore, consumers may view the whopper variety as the better or the superior option, leading to more sales for burger king. Another way burger king uses product variation is by flame grilling their patties. Burger king has used this non price strategy since its founding in 1954 and is still in use today. By flame grilling their patties, burger king adds a distinct taste to their burgers and appeals to consumers who want a more genuine and traditionally cooked Pattie. This will also increase sales. Burger king uses product differentiation as some of its non-price strategies. Product differentiation is the process in which firms make a product appear to be different from that of competitors. Burger king uses product differentiation with its branding, advertising, sponsorship, packaging and store locations. For example, burger king uses unique packaging when wrapping their burgers. On the packaging they add the ingredients of the burger, a description of the burger, the colours that represent burger king (red) and their motto (Taste is king). Without changing the actual product, the packaging makes the burgers appear very different to similar competitor’s burgers. Productivity With 2 windows burger king on average serves 50 cars per hour. with the added window burger king serves on average 80 cars per hour. when burger king just had two windows customers would pay at the first and then pick up at the second window. however, as demand for burger kings meals has increased and burger employees have to prepare more complex meals, drive thru times have been very slow which means that customers have to wait a long time for their meal and they are less likely to purchase from burger king again. to increase the drive thru speed time burger king has decided to add in an extra pick up window so customers won’t have to wait as long. this extra window has had a positive effect on burger king as shown by the 60% increase of cars through the drive thru. although costs increase because of the installation of the new window and one more person is working at the new window, burger kings productivity has increased. Productivity is calculated as outputs divided by inputs. with the added window, burger king has 60% more sales and a small amount of costs (inputs)-wages and installation. making the margin between sales and costs much larger than before the window was added. because of burger kings decision to add the extra window productivity has vastly increased. the consequence on society of burger kings decision to add the 3rd window is that consumers will spend less time waiting for their burger and therefore get to where they want to be quicker. another effect of the 3rd window is that the queue in the drive thru will be much smaller. if consumers see this small queue they are more likely to buy burger king than if the queue was large. resulting in less disposable income and in an increase in health problems. the consequences on the workers is that they will have to work faster and harder to keep up with the drive orders. these workers may receive a slightly higher income for the more demandi ng work they do.

Analysis Of Kafka s The Metamorphosis And The Women...

Several years ago, I went out with my mother. While we were having a lunch at a restaurant, someone who was tall with long-hair walked in. My mother asked me, whether that person is a man or a woman. Our opinions were different. Because, in these days, there are many tall women and there are many long-haired men. When the person came close to us, we knew certainly. The person’s voice was deep, so we concluded that person was a man based on the information we figured out. But, that person could be a tall, long-haired woman with a deep voice. Are you a man? Are you a woman? What is your gender? Concept of gender and sex are very important matter for us in living in the society. In the stories, â€Å"The Metamorphosis† and â€Å"The Women’s Swimming Pool†, it is mentioned that what the role of men and women, and what it means living as a men and women in society. In Kafka’s work â€Å"The Metamorphosis†, after Gregor Samsa was transformed into b ug, he lost his own figure, his family, his job, and even himself. Before that happened, he really tried hard to take care of his family. However, after he turned into ugly and disgusting creature, all the family members, who were highly supported by him, showed different attitude to him (Kafka, 219). It seems that they forgot everything he did for them and it was big shock for him. At first, they wanted him to be okay as he was, and he also tried to make them relaxed by keeping himself away from them. However, he couldn’t even make effort to earnShow MoreRelatedStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 Pagesand permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. To obtain permission(s) to use material from this work , please submit a written request to Pearson Education, Inc., Permissions Department, One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458, or you may fax your request to 201-236-3290. Many of the designations by manufacturers

Commodities Market Example For Free - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1934 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Economics Essay Type Essay any type Did you like this example? The agreement to buy and sell such commodities is made through contracts to bring in legality in trading as it involves cash payments margins, delivery of goods and scope for profit maximisation. The emergence of contract systems eventually led to trading in contracts whereby a middlemen stands in between buyers and sellers. The active trading in such contracts brought standardisation which in turn led to the development of futures contracts. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Commodities Market Example For Free" essay for you Create order A future contract is a standardised, binding agreement to make or take delivery of a specified quantity and grade of a commodity at an established point in future at an agreed upon price. The organization of merchants involved in the trading these commodities evolved into an organisation that standardised the contracts and trading practises and came to be known as The Futures Exchange such as the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) and the London International Financial Futures Exchange. One essential objective of the exchange is to provide the dealers with all necessary information with regard to price volatility i.e. the magnitude of price movement in either direction. Note that it measures price risk and volatility but does not remove or eliminate risks. The exchange provides the benchmark for the determination of price by making price margins mandatory for effective fair trading. Future transactions do not require full advance payments for the commodity (just the margin) , the buyer of a futures contract which increases in value (or the seller of futures contract which decreases in value) can realize a profit which can be substantial in relation to the commitment of capital. Brazil today is the world largest producer of coffee. Considering this figures, it is not surprising to note that it has attracted considerable amount of speculation and ever increasing susceptibility to price volatility. Coffee production has direct linkage with weather besides many other factors such as world coffee prices. A coffee drink manufacturer will buy coffee beans from a coffee producer at an agreed price if he/she expects to have drastic climatic changes which will result in coffee being expensive at a future date. A sudden drop in the production in future will cut supply and make it more expensive. the buyer can, therefore, avoid unnecessary risk by buying a futures contract that will guarantee him delivery of coffee at a future date at a price fixed now. However, it must also be noted that he/she will suffer loss if the future current/spot price of coffee beans were to fall drastically due to improved production and competitions. Take an example of Brazil The Brazilian Crop was initially expected to produce about 50 million bags of coffee. Seasonal disturbances such as rain, harvest delays and quality problem caused production to fall to 33.5 million bags. Due to severe drought in Viet Nam coffee production dropped by almost 1 million bags. These shortages of coffee output distort the supply level which leads to a global rise in prices. So what roles does the future markets play in the production and selling of coffee? Taking these points into account the next chapter looks at the Indian and world coffee markets and the role future market plays in its pricing. In the analysis, I have made use of some articles from the Times of India newspaper and other websites. It is logical to state that at times of shortage prices tend to go up due to higher demand and which in turn puts pressure on sellers to sell their product at a lower price. We know from our analysis before that a buyer will resort to futures contract if he expects the prices to go up in future. However considering that the production too has been low the chances of producing the required amount to meet the demand is less which adds to speculation in the market. The report also suggests one source as saying that it is better to pay penalty and cancel a contract rather than to loose significant amount of money by fulfilling it. Note that sometimes the whole idea of futures contract is not meet the obligation in terms of delivering the commodity but to profit from the speculation that these uncertainties give rise to. The world coffee production in 2003/2004 was estimated to be around 105.3 million 60 kilogram bags down nearly 2 percent from forecast made in June and down 15 percent from the 2002/03 season. Factors such as low er production contribute to great extent the price determination. For the year 2004/2005 it was widely believed that Brazilian coffee production to be around 33-35 million bags but due to substandard weather and low level of investment the production is likely to be below 30 million bags. This drop in production is likely to cut the supply level and Brazil being the world largest producers, any drop in its output will affect the world supply and thereby raise the price. These uncertainties lead to prices going up in the futures markets. It has long been felt that some traders hold stocks to push the prices up and then sell it to make supernatural profits. Lets look at the graphical representation of prices of Robusta class of coffee as determined at the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) to assess the trends in the market. The graph below shows that since November 2004 Robusta coffee prices have increased at a slow and steady pace. However, a report that appeared on the Economic Times suggests that volatility in the world prices over the last few days have affected trading in coffee in the markets. The ICO in its Coffee Market Report seems to suggest that the downturn in mid-April caused a slight fall of 3.19 percent in the monthly average of the ICO Composite Indicator Price which dropped from 101.44 cents/lb in March to98.20 cents/lb in April. It also suggests that this has been due to high level of activity from various investment funds. Comparing the results put forward by the ICO to the recent reports in the Economic Times newspaper (24/05/2005) the volatility in the world prices have triggered a bullish trend in the Indian markets which explains why trading in the coffee auctions markets have suffered. Estimates shows that there was a 40 percent drop in the overall quantum sold when compared to the previous ICTA auction. The beginning of the year showed a significant climb in the moving averages between January and mid-March and then a significant drop till the mid of April. One of the least complex ways to use a moving average is to simply look at the slope a rising slope indicates that the market is in an uptrend and falling slope indicates a downward trend in the market. Moving Averages is a statistical technique for smoothing price movement in order to identify the trends more easily. It is equally important to understand that moving averages are sensitive to the number of days used to calculate the average i.e. the more days that are used; the less sensitive is the average. Some experts are of the view that MA can be a critical factor in decision making. For e.g. traders can make use of one or more MA to determine buy or sell decisions i.e.to use a slow MA together with a fast MA. A slow moving average can be calculated by taking more days opening or closing prices and fast moving average by taking fewer days prices. In a more elaborate way, what it means is that you must buy when the fas ter MA goes above the slower one and sell when the faster MA goes below the slower one [or] buy when prices are above both fast and slow MA and sell when prices are below both MA. The chart below is a graphical example of how a Moving Average looks like as of 05/27/2005. The Red Line (price line) is above the moving average so the trend is up indicating that the market is bullish and also the fast moving average (dark blue) is above the slow moving average (light blue). Volume of7078.00 suggests the measure of trading activity during the selected period of time. It refers to the number of futures contract that are either bought or sold during that period. Open Interests, on the other hand, measures the number of futures contract that remains open at a particular point in time, usually at the closing of trade. In the next chapter, I have looked at India as a producer of Coffee. India is relatively new into the coffee future markets and has performed exceedingly well. Ho wever, due to the speculative nature of the futures market and also bureaucratic hurdles have led to decrease in contract sales and increased price and non-competitiveness in the global coffee market. The two principal species of coffee grown in India are Robusta and Arabica. Trading in coffee futures was introduced only recently and prices are extensively depended on the coffee trading in the New York and London futures markets as it has considerable influence on the world coffee prices. These prices are notoriously volatile and varies considerably due to factors such as weather forecast, size of the coffee stock worldwide and speculations in the futures markets The Indian coffee production and physical trade is worth over $ 430 million annually. The production of Indian coffee is greatly influenced by world prices particularly since it is the second largest actively traded commodity in the world market. The Coffee Futures Exchange India Limited was formed under the sup ervision of Forwards Markets Commission to look into all trading practices affecting coffee prices. The main objectives are To provide hedging opportunity against coffee price risk. To ensure guaranteed delivery of coffee. To provide a price discovery mechanism for future period up to 18 months at any given point of time. Besides these it is important to look at the mechanism COFEI uses to ensure that market participants follows the rules in ensure financial integrity. Factors such as margins, Price limits for trading, daily marking-to-market of all trades and sufficient capital including guarantee funds ensures that proper procedures are followed when a contract is bought and sold. In India, coffee has been categorized into 4 different types with each having different margins for smooth and efficient trading. The table next page gives a snapshot view of how coffee in India is traded and in particular the different class of coffee whether raw or clean. The coffee industry, in general, has seen surge in prices by almost 40 percent. Exports in recent times have been hit quiet badly. Reports on the Financial Express newspaper suggest that export have suffered especially due to the price non-competitiveness in the world markets. India exported nearly 225,000 tonnes of coffee last year with majo rity (50 %) of it going to Europe. Indias coffee production and exports for the year 2005-06 (October-September) are forecast to increase by 5% and 29%, respectively. The anticipated rise in coffee export is against the backdrop of almost 26% decline in the current year (2004-05/Oct-Sep). Coffee exports are expected to fall to an eight-year low of 169,980 tonne, or 2.83 million 60-kilogram bags, in the current year ending Sept 30, from 229,320 tonne, or 3.82 million bags, a year earlier. India, the worlds fifth-biggest coffee exporter is set to witness decline as farmers and traders are withholding beans on expectations of higher prices. One of the biggest problems facing the traders in the Indian coffee industry is the time difference between India and the New York and London trading centres. Indian traders were now finding it difficult to hedge their risk. The local exchange functioned only till 5pm when the LIFFE and NYBOT and other European markets functioned till ov er 11.30 pm IST.