> The rest of the market is speculation
Metals (miners <> manufacturers) and agricultural (farmers <> food makers) futures are still non-speculative. There are industries that still buy materials from these markets, for delivery, as in they want to see the physical product in their hands. I was surprised to find that out as well
Yeah. Pretty much anyone that wants to buy a commodity for delivery at a future date will use a futures market.
Some markets don’t have a futures market like hay, so people have to buy at spot prices and store it themselves.