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DB Plan Commodities Investments, Returns Drop

Defined benefit plans’ allocation to commodities and returns from those investments fell in 2015, says a recent report.

According to Pensions & Investments, the top 1,000 DB plans’ allocation in commodities dropped by 16.2% since 2014. P&I reports that the decline in the Bloomberg Commodity Total Return Index for 2015 was even sharper at 26%.

The last year that P&I’s measure showed dramatic growth in DB plans’ investment in commodities was 2010. Since then, it has shown either slower growth or a drop. The Bloomberg Index has shown declines since 2012.

Despite these results, P&I says that the top 1,000 plans had commodity assets of $22.5 billion. P&I also showed that the number of pension plans that had investments in commodities in 2015 still was more than three times higher than it was in 2006, the first year for which data was available: in 2006, 17 did so; last year, the number was 55.