September 2015

TRADED COMMODITIES

Light Crude Oil

Coffee

OTHER COMMODITIES

OTHER NEWS

TRADED COMMODITIES

Light Crude Oil

Nearby Futures WSJ

September 25, 2015 (WSJ.com) by Nicole Friedman

Oil Prices Rise on Yellen Rate Comments, Supply Expectations

Investors point to indications of improving U.S. economy

NEW YORK-Oil prices strengthened Friday on expectations of growing economic growth and shrinking U.S. supply.

Prices have traded in a tight range this month amid uncertainty about how quickly the global glut of crude is set to shrink. Production is falling in the U.S., leading to lower commercial inventories of crude oil, but output remains robust in other countries. While global consumption has been strong, analysts question whether demand can continue to grow at a high pace next year.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery recently rose $1.33, or 3%, to $46.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent, the global benchmark, rose 90 cents, or 1.9%, to $40.07 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.

U.S. gross domestic product grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.9% in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday, up from its previous estimate of 3.7%. The estimate suggests the U.S. economy is on track for solid growth this year.

On Thursday, Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen argued in favor of raising interest rates later this year.

The Fed's decision not to raise interest rates earlier in the month pushed oil prices lower, because the Fed's decision was based on concerns about global growth. Worries that slowing global growth will weigh on oil consumption have been a key factor behind the past year's rout in oil prices.

Ms. Yellen's speech on Thursday "set the stage of the advance" in oil prices, said Stanton Analytics in a note. "Investors took this as a sign that things may not have been as bad as feared."

In addition, traders are waiting on weekly U.S. drilling data. The number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. has fallen for three straight weeks, boosting expectations of a drop in future oil production.

U.S. oil output has already started falling from a peak in April due to sharp spending cuts and a reduction in new drilling.

"Expected further production declines that have recently been translating to commercial stock draws have obviously spurred...buying interest" in the oil market, said energy-advisory firm Ritterbusch & Associates.

Gasoline futures recently rose 1.9% to $1.3913 a gallon. Diesel futures rose 1.3% to $1.5436 a gallon.

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Coffee

Nearby Futures WSJ

September 10, 2105 (ICO.org) August 2015 Coffee Market Report

Volatility returns to the coffee market as prices stay low

ICO August 2015 Coffee Market Report

Daily coffee prices hit their lowest level in 19 months during August, as commodity markets worldwide were negatively affected by currency movements and economic news out of China. Further uncertainty could be provoked by reports that this year's El Ni�o event could be one of the strongest on record, potentially disrupting the timing and volume of rainfall in several producing countries. Coffee exports in July 2015 came to 9.6 million bags, 3.6% lower than last year, with total exports for the first ten months of coffee year 2014/15 (October to July) 2.8% lower on 92.9 million bags. Finally, the Brazilian government agency Conab have reported that private stocks in Brazil dropped by 849,000 during crop year 2014/15 to 14.4 million bags at the end of March 2015.

The daily price of the ICO composite indicator rallied briefly at the beginning of August, to reach a 12-week high of 128.16 US cents/lb. However, further currency devaluations in the Brazilian real, Colombian peso and Vietnamese dong, combined with broader declines in commodities, subsequently drove prices down to a low of 114.21 cents. The monthly average for August settled on 121.21 cents, 1.2% higher than July but still the second-lowest level since January 2014.

In terms of the group indicators, all three Arabica groups averaged higher monthly levels, with Colombian Milds, Other Milds and Brazilian Naturals up by 1.7%, 1.6% and 2.9% respectively. Robustas, on the other hand, dropped by 1.5% to 85.78 cents, their lowest monthly value in 21 months. The arbitrage between Arabica and Robusta therefore widened slightly, with price volatility also increasing significantly over the course of August.

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the current El Ni�o event in the tropical Pacific Ocean is the strongest since 1997/98, and is potentially one of the strongest events since 1950. El Ni�o refers to the occasional dysfunction of the weather patterns centred in the equatorial Pacific regions, and is caused by the abnormal warming of coastal waters off Peru and Ecuador in the eastern Pacific Ocean and the irregular cooling of the coastal waters in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a significant impact on rainfall patterns worldwide, which is already being felt in the severe drought conditions affecting Australia, heavy rainfall in eastern Africa and flooding in South America. The phenomenon is likely to continue at least until the end of this year. While it is too early to evaluate its impact in coffee exporting countries, we should continue to expect human and ecological consequences caused by climate fluctuations, as well as an impact on infrastructure in a number of producing regions.

Over the last year, the currencies of several exporting countries, most notably Brazil and Colombia, have depreciated significantly against the US dollar, as can be seen in graph 5. Since September 2014, the Brazilian real and Colombian peso have both depreciated by over 50%, reflecting their domestic economic performance as well as global macroeconomic trends. The Indonesian rupiah has also dropped by nearly 20%, and even the Vietnamese dong (which is typically pegged against the US dollar within a relatively narrow band), has been devalued by around 6% over the course of the last year.

The effect of these devaluations is to increase the remuneration in local currency of coffee sold in US dollars, thereby giving an incentive to farmers and exporters to release more coffee to the international market, even as the world price of coffee falls.

This can be seen mostly clearly in Brazil's export performance over the last year or so. While production in crop year 2014/15 (April to March) fell to a three-year low of 45.3 million bags according to Conab figures, exports hit a record level of 36.9 million bags, with domestic consumption of around 21 million bags. This was facilitated by the use of stocks which had been accumulated over the two previous seasons, and encouraged by the significant depreciation in the exchange rate. As can be seen in graph 6, monthly export volumes for the last three months are slightly lower compared to last year (crop year 2014/15), but remain above their levels of 2012/13 and 2013/14.

Furthermore, Conab, have released their survey of private stocks for the end of crop year 2014/15 (31st March 2015) which were down by 849,000 bags (5.6%) to 14.4 million bags. It is likely that these volumes have been further eroded in recent months to fuel exports. To conclude, coffee prices continue to be buffeted by macroeconomic trends, with little fundamental news to support the market. While exports have slowed slightly in the last six months, the world market remains sufficiently supplied for the time being. However, with a strong El Ni�o event expected over the next few months, future production prospects could be uncertain.

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Corn

Nearby Futures WSJ

Corn Gains After USDA Trims Crop Estimates

Government lowers corn production, yield estimates from last month's figures

September 11, 2015 (WSJ.com) by Jesse Newman

Corn prices surged to a one-month high after federal forecasters trimmed their estimate for U.S. production this autumn following adverse weather in parts of the Midwest.

Soybean and wheat futures also settled higher.

Corn prices climbed more than 3% after the U.S. Agriculture Department projected domestic output at 13.585 billion bushels, down from its estimate last month of 13.686 billion. Prices rose sharply even though analysts had expected an even deeper cut in production, to about 13.5 billion bushels.

The USDA, in a monthly crop report that was highly anticipated by traders, forecast corn yields of 167.5 bushels an acre, down from its estimate of 168.8 last month.

Corn for December delivery, the most actively traded contract, rose 12.75 cents, or 3.4%, to $3.87 a bushel at the Chicago Board of Trade. September futures, the front-month contract, gained 12.75 cents, or 3.5%, to $3.7450 a bushel, the highest closing price since Aug. 11.

Analysts had anticipated production and yield estimates for corn would decline after heavy rains early in the growing season drenched parts of the eastern Midwest, drawing off nutrients from the soil and enabling disease to spread. Analysts believed dryness in parts of the Farm Belt in August had further stressed crops, and that disappointing results from the early corn harvest in the southern and eastern Midwest also could spur the USDA to make sharp cuts in its projections.

The 2015 corn crop still would rank as the third-largest in U.S. history, down 4% from last year's record haul. Yields would be the second-largest ever. Bumper crops over the past few years have pushed corn prices down more than 50% from records during 2012's severe U.S. drought.

Some analysts said the USDA report gave some corn traders what they had been looking for since last month's unexpectedly upbeat crop report: lower estimated yields and production, an acknowledgment of lingering damage from an overly wet spring.

"This opens the doorway for further [USDA corn-estimate] reductions in October and November," said Steve DeCook, president at Dallas-based Four Seasons Commodities Corp. He said the USDA could trim "another bushel or two" from its current corn yield estimate.

Others said that the monthslong debate over the accuracy of the USDA's corn-crop forecast was destined to continue as farmers begin this year's harvest in earnest and the scope of the crop damage becomes clearer. Questions over the USDA's projections, which have been criticized as overly optimistic by some analysts, likely won't be settled "until the final number," said Mike O'Dea, risk-management consultant for commodities brokerage INTL FCStone.

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Orange Juice

Nearby Futures WSJ

September 17, 2015 (TheLedger.com) by Kevin Bouffard

Citrus Industry continues 19-year decline

LAKE WALES - By Thursday, the continued decline of Florida's commercial citrus industry, as reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, surprised nobody.

"Nothing was a surprise," said George Hamner, president of Indian River Exchange Packers, a grower with several thousand grove acres and a Vero Beach packinghouse. "We expected decline. We just hope to live long enough to see a turnaround."

Total citrus acreage continued its 19-year decline with another 3 percent fall in grove land to 501,396 acres compared to 515,147 acres last year. Those groves also had 2 percent fewer trees since 2014 with a total of 66.9 million trees, down from 68.1 million trees a year ago.

"These are the lowest numbers in the series across the board," said Candi Erick, administrator at the USDA's Florida Field Office in Maitland, which oversees the annual citrus census.

Erick was referring to the 49-year census series back to 1966, when the USDA began its current aerial survey method. USDA officials met with a growers' advisory board at the Florida's Natural Growers Grove House.

The new survey showed 12,343 acres of new citrus grove planted over the year, the highest total since 2009, but the increase was not enough to overcome the loss of 26,094 grove acres since 2014, she said.

On the bright side, Erick said, most of the acreage removed was probably abandoned or marginally productive groves.

Of greater concern to growers is the decline in the value of the citrus crop.

The USDA reported the preliminary on-tree value of the 2014-15 Florida citrus crop at $1 billion, a 12 percent decline from a revised value of nearly $1.2 billion in the 2013-14 crop. A year ago, USDA had valued the 2013-14 crop at $946.5 million.

"On-tree" measures what the grower is paid for his fruit after the buyer, a fresh fruit packinghouse or juice processing plant, deducts the costs of picking, hauling and packing. It does not account for the growers' caretaking expenses, such as fertilizer and labor.

Because of those rising costs and declining value, the 2014-15 season was a tough one economically for most growers, said Larry Black, a Fort Meade-based grower and president of Lakeland-based Florida Citrus Mutual, the state's largest growers' trade group. Grove caretaking costs have risen to about $2,200 per acre, triple the costs just 15 years ago.

The rising costs and declines in acreage and trees can be attributed to the fatal bacterial disease citrus greening, initially identified in the state in fall 2005, although researchers believe it had lain dormant for several years before symptoms appeared. With greening's arrival, citrus fruit production in Florida has declined 63 percent to 112.65 million boxes in 2014-15 from its historical peak of 304.45 million boxes in the 1997-98 season.

Greening has hit particularly hard in the past three seasons as weak, infected trees shed mature fruit in unprecedented numbers. USDA data shows pre-harvest drop in 2014-15 reached 22 percent for early and mid-season orange varieties, more than triple the rate four seasons earlier, while the drop rate for late-season Valencia oranges reached 25 percent, 56 percent higher over that period.

The effect on fruit size, another greening symptom, was even more dramatic, said Mark Hudson, head of the Florida office.

"We saw something we've never seen before - the fruit didn't get any bigger," said Hudson, referring to the lack of growth the USDA measured during the last citrus season, which begins in October. "What really surprised us was the size, not the drop."

The USDA overestimated last season's early-mid orange size by 6.7 percent and by nearly 4 percent for late-season Valencia oranges.

The $1 billion crop value was a pleasant surprise given the collapse of cash market price for Valencia oranges earlier this year, said Mark Wheeler, a Lake Placid-based grower.

Wheeler and Tom Spreen, a retired agriculture economist at the University of Florida, agreed the 2014-15 crop value was probably helped by the fact most Valencias were sold under long-term contracts, which have guaranteed floor prices not affected by the market price.

"That means the weakness of the market price on Valencias did not affect as many boxes," Spreen said.

In another USDA report, abandoned citrus acreage in Florida decline by 3 percent to 130,108 acres.

Owners have abandoned those groves largely because they can't afford the high cost of anti-greening measures, such as additional fertilization and pesticide spraying, citrus officials have said.

Polk had 7,223 abandoned acres, down 10 percent from 2014. That was well behind St. Lucie County, which continued to have the most abandoned groves at 33,435 acres and No. 2 Martin County with 17,482 abandoned acres.

"It was nice to see abandoned acres decrease," said Lindsay Raley, a Winter Haven grower and chairman of Dundee Citrus Growers Association, which runs the state's largest citrus packinghouse.

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Wheat

Nearby Futures WSJ

September 21, 2015 AGWEB.com

Wheat's Worst Plunge Since 1986 Isn't Steep Enough for Bears

Hedge funds are so down on wheat that even the worst price plunge in 29 years isn't leaving them satisfied.

Instead, a global glut has money managers ready for more losses and sticking with a net-bearish outlook for seven straight weeks. World inventories before the start of next year's harvest are expected to climb to an all-time high as farmers reap bigger crops in the U.S., Russia and Ukraine.

Wheat futures have tumbled 22 percent since the end of June, heading for the worst quarterly loss since 1986. American farmers are particularly struggling because they're saddled not just with bigger stockpiles, but also a rising dollar. The stronger currency is making exports from the U.S., the world's top shipper, more expensive for overseas buyers.

"You have a lot of producers around the world coming in with pretty solid crops," said Sameer Samana, a St. Louis-based global quantitative strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, which oversees $1.6 trillion. "You have France, the U.S., Russia, Ukraine and others all jockeying to sell their wheat. That will probably continue to put pressure on prices."

The wheat net-short position, or bets on declines, totaled 39,382 futures and options in the week ended Sept. 15, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released three days later. The seven weeks of bearish outlook is the longest streak since late June.

Futures dropped 18 percent this year to $4.8325 a bushel in Chicago. The Bloomberg Commodity Index of 22 components fell 16 percent. The MSCI All-Country World Index of equities dropped 5.9 percent, and the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 6.1 percent.

World wheat inventories at the end this season will grow to 226.56 million metric tons, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Sept. 11. That's up 7.2 percent from a year earlier, a third straight increase. The agency expects domestic stockpiles to jump 16 percent to a six-year high.

There's not a lot of demand for all that grain. In the U.S., commitments for exports this season are trailing last year's pace by about 13 percent, government data show. French shippers are also having a hard time attracting buyers, and there's so much excess supply in the country that some silo operators are maxed out.

"Investors are perpetually short because it's a market where you've got a crop coming out of just about every country in the world," said John Stephenson, the chief executive officer of Stephenson & Co. Capital Management in Toronto, which oversees C$55 million ($41.6 million). "It's so well-supplied globally that it's never usually a problem getting your hands on wheat."

The saving grace for bulls could come from crop-damaging weather. Dryness is building in parts of Kansas, the largest U.S. grower of winter varieties that are now being seeded. While the lack of moisture is a worry for farmers, a "big window" remains for sowing, said Helen Pound, a senior commodity specialist at Wedbush Securitites in Minneapolis. Nine percent of the domestic winter crop was planted as of Sept. 13, matching the prior five-year average, USDA data show.

There are also risks to global plants. The Brazilian crop faced losses from frost this month, according to Somar Meteorologia. Winter-wheat in early stages in Ukraine may be stressed by hot, dry weather in the next week, Speedwell Weather forecasts. This year's El Nino, which can bake parts of Asia and alter rainfall in South America, will peak around the end of the year as sea temperatures in the Pacific Ocean may exceed those seen in the record event almost two decades earlier, according to Australia's Bureau of Meteorology.

"I don't know what's going to happen when the El Nino gears up later on," Pound said. "Any farmer that has had dry weather, that's going to worry him about planting his crop." Still, with plentiful supplies around the globe, "it's hard not to be bearish," she said.

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OTHER COMMODITIES

Dairy Products

� Brian Gould, Agricultural and Applied Economics, UW Madison

MADISON, WI July 17, 2015 (REPORT 28)

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Butter Highlights

� Brian Gould, Agricultural and Applied Economics, UW Madison

MADISON, WI September 11, 2015 (REPORT 36)

BUTTER HIGHLIGHTS:

Available cream supplies and lower components in farm intakes are dictating butter production, which is steady to lower. More food manufacturers are using butter as an ingredient and holiday baking is starting to ramp up production, which is causing strong demand. Some end users are contracting for future needs in order to have favorable pricing levels. The U.S. has exported 5 million pounds of butter, which is 58% behind year ago levels. Friday at the CME Group, Grade AA butter closed at $2.5650, up $.1125 from last week's close.

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Cheese Highlights

� Brian Gould, Agricultural and Applied Economics, UW Madison

MADISON, WI September 11, 2015 (REPORT 36)

CHEESE HIGHLIGHTS:

Cheese volumes are sufficient to fulfill near-term needs. Adequate milk supplies continue to flow into cheese vats, although milk moving into fluid accounts has limited cheese production in a few areas. Regular customer demand is steady. Cheese production is relatively active, especially for mozzarella. Pizza sales are increasing to schools and universities that are back in session. A few industry contacts suggest cheese supply is a little stronger than demand, causing inventories of some varieties to build. Manufacturers are hoping the increase in fall demand will start to draw down inventories. U.S. cheese and curd exports are down 21% from a year ago. Prices for domestically produced foreign type cheese are higher and demand for this cheese is steady to higher as the holiday season nears. In CME Group trading Friday, barrels closed at $1.5900, down $.0800 from last Friday and 40# blocks closed at $1.6950, unchanged from last Friday.

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Polypropylene

Copyright � 2015 The Plastics Exchange. LLC.

September 18, 2015 (Chicago, IL) The Plastics Exchange

Commodity resin market activity improved, transactional volume rose and prices were mixed amid shortterm volatility. HDPE prices ended lower, with plentiful injection grades taking the largest $.02/lb hit. LDPE and HMW film grades each lost a penny relative to moderately scarcer LLDPE, which held steady. Spot Polypropylene prices edged a penny higher as producers dig in to further expand margins by holding on to their entire cost decrease resulting from the decline in Propylene monomer contracts. Export markets are seeing sporadic activity, but volumes seem to be strong as the Houston resin warehouses are jammed full of material, presumably along with orders for international shipment - if not, watch out!

The spot Propylene market perked up, material initially transacted almost a penny higher before sliding into negative territory. By the end of the week, quite a large volume of PGP for September delivery was sold at $.2675/lb, down a fraction. September PGP contracts finally settled at $.30/lb, which was a $.03/ lb decrease. The market has dropped a dime since settling at $.40/lb in June; on a larger scale, contract PGP has eroded 60% since peaking last October at $.765/lb. The PGP forward curve flattened a little, and while prices are still forecast to rise, the peak in July 2016 is now just under $.295/lb. RGP is priced around $.17/lb.

Polypropylene trading was basically average and spot prices were about a penny firmer. Late in the week, Ineos experienced an outage at their Chocolate Bayou plant resulting in the notice of a Force Majeure event for PP. Processors in need of material to fill in supply gaps are still finding spot material, even offgrade, priced at a premium to their contract buys. Even as such, suppliers with surplus material often have difficulty finding the right buyer willing to pay their price for a specific excess grade. Producers continue their unpopular campaign to try and raise Polypropylene prices even in the face of falling costs. The current margin expansion increase averages $.04-05/lb while monomer just confirmed down $.03/lb. Margin expansion has already found considerable success during 2015 particularly when PP contracts decreased, but just not by as much as the drop in PGP contacts. This coming week should start to reveal the results of individual September negotiations.

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The King Nut Report

September 25, 2015 (Solon, OH) King Nut

ALMONDS - The Almond harvest is underway. Current harvest reports vary. Some areas are reporting considerable insect damage, which is consistent with a lower yielding crop stressed by drought. Prices that were already at or near record levels are remaining firm. Many of the processors are being very conservative with regards to selling or contracting sales and are only contracting small amounts of product as the harvest proceeds. The processors that are pressed for longer term contracts are adding a premium due to the uncertainty in the crop.

The Almond Board released its monthly management report on the industry. The numbers show that export demand continues to decline as compared to last year. It is unknown how much of the decline is attributable to price and how much to overall economic uncertainties in the export markets. Meanwhile, domestic demand is up year to date as compared to last year. The US market has yet to reach the price level that stifles demand growth. We may see it this year as users look for substitutes to Almonds.

CASHEWS - The supply of Cashews continues to be very stable, however global usage is strong, especially in broken grades. US demand/usage has been increasing since 2011. The continuing increase in demand year over year combined with high prices on most, if not all, complementary and competing commodities such as Almonds, Pecans and Pistachios will continue to put upward pressure on the Cashew market.

PEANUTS - The USDA NASS announced last Friday that the 2015 US Peanut crop should approach 3,160,700 tons, an increase of 70,200 tons from their estimate given in August. Many in the industry thought the estimate would be closer to 3.3 million tons given the growing season weather in the Southeast region and the increase in planted acres. The concern now is potential excess rain that may fall during the harvest season and make harvesting the current crop more difficult.

Both export and domestic markets for Peanuts remain strong. The current spot market is tight with little excess capacity. Processers continue to charge premiums for spot market purchases due to the lack of blanching capacity in the industry. The best prices being offered currently are for Peanuts to deliver starting at the beginning of 2016.

PECANS - Prices for current crop Pecans are very high. Many of the smaller pieces and larger halves are sold out until the new crop starts to arrive to processors late this fall. The Pecan crop has alternating large and small crops. This year we are in the large crop cycle year. Indications are that the overall crop is in good shape, however the real condition of the crop will not be known until the actual harvest starts and yields are measured. Due to the shortage of the current crop, prices are expected to remain high until harvest of the new crop begins and the pipeline and holiday demand is fulfilled.

PISTACHIOS - New crop pricing for Pistachios will be available in approximately 3 to 4 weeks. Early indications are that the situation in the crop is not good. The Pistachio crop has been drastically impacted by the drought as well as a lack of overnight chilling hours. Forecasts are that the 2015 crop may be the smallest in 7 years and the lowest yield per acre since 1989.

WALNUTS - The Walnut board of California released their monthly management report for August 2015 last week. Year to date domestic shipments for 9/1/2014 through 8/31/2015 are up 6% and export shipments are up 7% from the same period last year. Last year's crop was forecasted to be 545,000 in-shell tons. Actual receipts will put the crop in excess of 562,512 in-shell tons. This year's crop is projected to be 575,000 in-shell tons. Unlike most other nut commodities, the Walnut supply is plentiful and consequently prices are down considerably from this same time last year.

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OTHER NEWS

Hot Topics

Movoto.com by Spencer McKee

52 Facts About Portland You Probably Didn't Know

1. After getting lost in Indiana and making a 2,800 mile trip, Bobbie the Wonder Dog found his way back to his owner in Oregon in a true "Homeward Bound" story. He's now buried at the Oregon Humane Society in Portland.

2. Stuck choosing between two New England towns, the name of Portland was chosen after a coin flip. Had the other side of the coin landed face up, the city would have been named Boston.

3. The annual World Naked Bike Ride in Portland is the world's largest with 13,000 nude participants. Despite being against some public decency laws, it's allowed because it has been granted "tradition" status.

4. There's a volcano within Portland's city limits. It's the only major U.S. city brave enough to take that risk.

5. Next time you're getting married, head to Voodoo Doughnuts where they offer legal marriage ceremonies.

6. Portland is smart, with a higher percentage of literate people than any other major city in America.

7. Rollerblades have been forbidden in Portland bathrooms.

8. The Candy Basket in Portland is home to the world's largest continual chocolate waterfall.

9. Old Town Pizza on Northwest Davis is haunted by a ghost named Nina whose origin dates back to the 19th century tunnels under the establishment.

10. The "Benson Bubblers" you see around Portland were donated to the city as a means of giving early settlers an alternative to drinking at the pubs.

11. The largest log cabin in the world, 206ft. by 102 ft., was built in Portland in 1905 to commemorate the Lewis and Clark expedition. Unfortunately, it was burnt down in 1964.

12. The Hotlanta of the West, Portland is home to more strip clubs per capita than anywhere else in the country.

13. Inventor of one of the dirtiest things you'll touch today, the world can thank Portlandian Douglas Engelbart for the computer mouse.

14. It's not surprise bikes are so popular in Portland, it comes in as the second most bike friendly place to be in the country, behind Minneapolis.

15. There's a $500 fine if you try to pump your own gas in Portland.

16. Famous for drawing some oddly shaped yellow cartoon characters, Matt Groening is a Portlandian. A lot of the Simpson characters are named after streets and spots in Portland.

17. The retail birthplace of U-Haul was in Portland.

18. The International Rose Test Garden, high above Portland, has over 500 different types of roses that have been grown since 1917.

19. The nickname "Stumptown" originates from a side effect of Portland's rapid growth. In order to expand, trees were cut down very quickly, but there wasn't enough time to remove the stumps so they were left behind.

20. Portlandia is the second largest hammered copper statue of its type in America, behind only Lady Liberty herself.

21. When Portland became a city in 1851, it only had 800 residents.

22. "Just Doin' It" wouldn't be possible without Portlandian Phil Knight, the co-founder of Nike.

23. Portland had the first NHL hockey team and the first American team in the Stanley Cup, the Portland Rosebuds.

24. The Mai Tai was created by Vic Bergeron, the owner of Portland's Trader Vic's, in 1944.

25. East of the river, it's a mile every 20 blocks of travel.

26. You could eat at a Portland food cart every night for two years before you'd be forced to eat at the same place twice.

27. While its illegal most places in America, residents are often allowed to take a dip in the city's many fountains.

28. The Rosebud & Thorn is the world's oldest teen drag queen competition, as participants first took the stage in 1975.

29. The Oregon Brewers Festival is the largest craft beer fest in North America.

30. It's against Portland law to modify the weather without obtaining a license first.

31. Until the late 1800s, domesticated elk freely roamed the streets of Portland, too stubborn to leave as the city grew.

32. In July, Portland attempted to set the record for the world's largest tree huge. With 599 huggers, they failed to come close to Nepal's record of over 2,000.

33. Bugs Bunny is a local, as voice actor for America's favorite rabbit, Mel Blanc, is from Portland.

34. Most laws are made due to an issue arising. Well, in Portland it's illegal to strap a baby in a car seat to the top of your car with duct tape. So in other words, that is a thing that happend. In Portland. In real life.

35. The largest children's parade in the world is in Portland, the Rosebud Festival's Junior Parade.

36. Portland holds the world record for the world's largest yoga chain, with over 800 participants.

37. "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" fans have Portland to thank. Without Joseph Woodford's invention of the chainsaw chain, the movies wouldn't be quite as scary.

8. Portland has a great history of gender equality, as the city was home to the first female officer in the country in the 1920s, the first female mayor in the country in the 1950s, and can boast that over 50 percent of local businesses are owned by women.

39. Internet Wikis were created in Portland.

40. Though it closed in 2002, the 24 Hour Church of Elvis in Portland would grant marriages for anyone to anything, be it your favorite pet, Saturn, or even yourself.

41. Everyone's favorite "New Girl," Zooey Deschanel, is a Portlandian.

42. Vegans rejoice! Portland has more options for you than anywhere else in the country.

43. Mill Ends Park is only 2.5 feet in diameter, making it the tiniest park in the entire world.

44. The roller coaster at Oaks Amusement Park is the oldest continuously-operating roller coaster on the West Coast.

45. Portland tops the list for the "best place to have a baby," ranked first by "Fit Pregnancy."

46. Portland regularly tops the list for the most courteous drivers in the country.

47. Portland is the best place in the country to get beer, with 56 breweries currently in Portland and 76 in the Portland metro area. That's more than anywhere else in the world.

48. Over 50 percent of the craft beer Portlandians drink is made in Oregon.

49. There was originally supposed to be a light pole in the place of Mill Ends Park, but they never got around to putting it up.

50. Portland has one of the highest voter participation rates of anywhere in the country, often attributed to Oregon's revolutionary plan to have voters mail in their ballots.

51. The author of "Fight Club", Chuck Palahniuk, calls Portland his home.

52. Portland is home to the world's largest independent bookstore, Powell's City of Books, taking up an entire block.

One of the most unique cities in the country, Portland has an awesome past and is quickly becoming one of the coolest places to live in the West.

See You in Portland!!! - The HACO Team

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Contact Paul Normand | pnormand@haco.us.com

HACO
130 Central Avenue
Grapevine, TX 76051