London, 30 April 2010

Agricultural commodities were left in the dust as base metal prices boomed last year but now represent the better investment, commodities bull Jim Rogers has told Reuters. "I'd rather buy agriculture which didn't move up, and I don't want to buy base metals because they did go up. I'm not selling base metals -- I'm just watching," he told Reuters in an telephone interview.

Prices for base metals soared in 2009 as global economies started to revive, with copper on the London Metal Exchange surging nearly 140%. In contrast, many agricultural commodities struggled with CBOT wheat down more than 10 percent following a bumper global harvest and corn climbing less than 2% during 2009.

Rogers, based in Singapore, rose to fame after co-founding the now-closed Quantum Fund with George Soros nearly four decades ago. The fund returned 4,200% over the 1970s and famously bet against the pound in the 1990s.

Rogers also pointed to the potential for agricultural commodities to outperform in the event of a major volcanic eruption in Iceland. "If (Icelandic volcano) Katla blows, we don't know what will happen. If it did explode, that will be bad for world economies and at that point, probably agriculture will be the best thing to buy," Rogers said.

"All stocks and commodities would go down, except agriculture which will probably go through the roof." Rogers said another major concern for financial markets was the potential for one or more countries to go bankrupt.

"If suddenly the UK goes bankrupt -- everything is going to go down. However, if something like that happens, governments are going to print more money," he said. "Throughout history, when people de-base currencies, real assets have been a good place to be. Whether things get better or don't get better, I'd rather be in commodities than in stocks," Rogers added.

He said he does not buy individual commodities or hold serious individual commodity positions, instead invests in the Rogers Commodity Index.

Ends --

By Michael Taylor and Nigel Hunt, Reuters - for Commodities Now