Almost every very large company that relies on commodities will have a treasury desk whose sole purpose is to work with future markets, its very common practice. It doesn't matter if one npr article has a anecdote, it exists.
Like if I look up home depot they talk about price volatility and that's the exact opposite of what a hedge produces. I'm honestly starting to doubt if they hedge at all; like why bother using Wall Street as an intermediary and just talk to your suppliers.
> [1] This was another historic quarter for lumber price volatility. During the first few weeks of the second quarter,
prices for both framing and panel lumber reached all-time highs before quickly falling from their peaks. As an
example, during the second quarter, framing lumber peaked at approximately $1,500 per thousand board feet
before falling over $1,000 to approximately $500. While pricing for both framing and panel has come down
from the peaks, the average price during the second quarter was still significantly higher than the same period
last year.
Inflation from core commodity categories positively impacted our average ticket growth by approximately
420 basis points during the second quarter.
Like if I look up home depot they talk about price volatility and that's the exact opposite of what a hedge produces. I'm honestly starting to doubt if they hedge at all; like why bother using Wall Street as an intermediary and just talk to your suppliers.
> [1] This was another historic quarter for lumber price volatility. During the first few weeks of the second quarter, prices for both framing and panel lumber reached all-time highs before quickly falling from their peaks. As an example, during the second quarter, framing lumber peaked at approximately $1,500 per thousand board feet before falling over $1,000 to approximately $500. While pricing for both framing and panel has come down from the peaks, the average price during the second quarter was still significantly higher than the same period last year. Inflation from core commodity categories positively impacted our average ticket growth by approximately 420 basis points during the second quarter.
[1]: 2021 Q2 - https://ir.homedepot.com/financial-reports/quarterly-earning...