Jim Rogers on Commodity Sell Off

In a recent interview with CNBC, billionaire investor and commodity expert Jim Rogers said the recent plunge in commodities has very little to do with fundamentals, but is rather a response to the fall of MF Global, a huge commodities company.

Roger said, “With MF Global going bankrupt – which was a gigantic commodities firm – there was a lot of artificial forced liquidation of commodities. People have to sell whether they like it or not. It’s artificial selling right now.”

Hit particularly hard in the commodity sector has been agriculture, with rice futures plunging over 14 percent, and wheat futures dropping about 9 percent.

Rogers reiterated his way of thinking concerning owning commodities, “I’m long commodities and currencies, because if the world gets better, the shortages in commodities will make sure I make money; if the world economy doesn’t get better, I’d rather own commodities because they’re going to print money.”

The "they're" he's talking about above is the Federal Reserve.

Concerning the central bank, Rogers stated, “Throughout history, when things have gone wrong, they print money ... when they print money, you should own silver, you should own rice, you should own real assets.”

Rogers said this is a good time to invest in agriculture, for those products which have recently fell in value.

Commodity prices will remain volatile, according to Rogers, citing the ongoing recession.

Jim Rogers Sees Commodity Supercycle

Jim Rogers has been a bull on commodities for a number of years, but he has even gotten more positive on the raw materials lately, saying he sees the supercycle has another 20 to 25 years to run before it slows down.

Also commenting on the decision by the Swiss National Bank to battle the appreciation of the franc against the euro, Rogers said it's ”a huge mistake,” adding “the market will have more money in the end than the SNB.”

Rogers said on CNBC that risk faced by the bank is it probably will “totally debase the Swiss franc trying to keep Switzerland ‘competitive’ which will then destroy the traditional Swiss financial industry.”

According to Rogers, he sees the Chinese yuan as the best place to park your money as far as a currency goes. He also likes the U.S. dollar over the short term, but sees it as the worst currency over the long term.