Geldanlage: Warum Agraraktien jetzt für Anleger interessant sind

The global food demand is expected to increase by nearly 50% by 2050, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Climate change poses challenges to the sector with heat and heavy rainfall. At the heart of these trends is the agricultural industry, encompassing machinery, seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, and food manufacturers.

Investors are interested in the sector not only because of its structural growth driven by the expanding world population but also as a diversification tool. Stephan Werner, a portfolio manager at DWS, explains that the agricultural sector primarily consists of staple commodities, consumer, and industrial equities, with minimal exposure to IT companies, offering improved risk diversification in a portfolio.

Additionally, the sector is relatively independent of the economic cycle due to steady demand. External factors such as geopolitical conflicts affecting export revenues, droughts and floods damaging harvests, and driving up prices impact the agricultural industry differently. For instance, machinery and seed manufacturers benefit from high food prices, while food and meat producers face rising costs.

The extent to which cost increases can be passed on depends on competition, demand, regulation, and consumer price sensitivity, as Werner elucidates. The MSCI World index outperformed the Agribusiness sector in the first half of the year, with the S&P Commodity Producers Agribusiness Index yielding 12% in USD terms compared to the MSCI World's 8%.

However, long-term performance has been less favorable, with the sector generating only 3% or 6% per year over five and ten years, respectively. Simon Frank, a financial advisor at Pictet Asset Management, views this as an opportunity, stating that many agricultural stocks have lost significant valuation in recent years despite solid fundamentals, defensive business models, and relatively low volatility.

Structural trends, particularly the shift towards healthier diets, driven by health and wellness awareness, longer life expectancy, aging populations, new nutrition guidelines, and increasing healthcare costs, are expected to drive future performance. Pictet's recommendation focuses on the growing trend towards healthier eating, with Danone, a French food company known for products like Activia, Alpro, and Evian, being a major holding in the "Pictet Nutrition Fund."

Nedialko Nedialkov, a portfolio manager at Allianz Global Investors, focuses on technology to counter the effects of climate change, such as heat, droughts, floods, and irregular rainfall. He highlights precision agriculture and automation as key opportunities, citing Deere & Co, a manufacturer of agricultural machinery and a platform for precision agriculture, as a major player in this area.

Nedialkov also identifies seed companies that develop more resilient plants as promising investments. An example is Corteva, a US seed company that offers particularly robust corn varieties. For those unwilling to select individual stocks, funds like the "iShares Agribusiness ETF" and the "Global X AgTech & Food Innovation ETF" offer exposure to the agricultural sector.

The iShares Agribusiness ETF, with 103 positions, is more diversified, while the Global X fund, with only 31 positions, is highly concentrated, dominated by Deere & Co.