Jim Rogers says cannabis will be a 'great investment'

Cannabis will be a ‘great investment’

The cannabis industry has been caught up in a sharp increase in market and media interest from investors amid the shift towards legalisation of marijuana in Canada and the US. World-renowned investor and chairman of Rogers Holdings, Jim Rogers says cannabis ‘is going to be a great investment if you find the right companies and the right prices'. Speaking in a video interview with IGTV, Rogers said he is ‘extremely interested’ in the market which ‘is going to get bigger and bigger’. The author of Hot Commodities, who co-founded the Quantum Funds with George Soros, says he has a private cannabis company in Colombia but does not have public stocks at the moment, adding ‘I wish I did’.

Agriculture is ‘still very cheap’

Beyond marijuana and within the commodities complex, Rogers is bullish on the outlook for agricultural commodities, which he says are ‘still very cheap’. Sugar, in particular, has seen prices slump by nearly 65% since its peak in 2011. Rogers told IGTV that ‘agriculture has been a disaster for farmers everywhere.' However, 'it is going to turn', he added.

‘I own US dollars as my safe haven’

Rogers is less optimistic on gold. The precious metal has staged a comeback since last August, rallying by more than 10% amid a slowdown in global growth and prompting investors to hedge against the next economic downturn. Rogers has said on a number of occasions that he thinks the next bear market will be the worst in his lifetime. However, he told IGTV he has not ‘bought any serious gold since 2010'. Instead, he is finding safety in the greenback. ‘As the turmoil comes and more and more people buy US dollars as a safe haven, it will get overpriced. It might even turn into a bubble depending on how bad the turmoil is.’ Rogers says ‘gold nearly always goes down when the market collapses’.

‘Very very optimistic’ about North Korea

In terms of his top investment idea, North Korea is where Rogers sees the most potential in the world right now. However, he says ‘I haven’t done anything because it is illegal. I don’t want to be rich and in jail’. Rogers has been living in Singapore for over a decade and has a keen interest in investing in Asia, after publishing his book in 2007, A Bull in China: Investing Profitably in the World’s Greatest Market. Rogers says ‘China is going to be the most important country in the 21^st century but there will be plenty of setbacks'.

Washington will be ‘the ruination of all of us’

While Rogers resides in Asia, he remains a US citizen. When asked about the risks to the US economy, Rogers was extremely disparaging about the White House and the Federal Reserve (Fed). 'Everybody in Washington has no clue and they are going to be the ruination of all of us. They have driven interest rates to the lowest in recorded history. They don’t know what they are doing and we’re all going to pay the price for it,’ he said.

Cryptos are ‘all going to go to zero and disappear’

It has been a torrid run for the cryptocurrency complex. The bitcoin bubble burst around the start of 2018 when prices started to freefall. It has now shed more than 80% since the end of 2017. While investors are divided as to whether cryptocurrencies will make a comeback or continue to depreciate, Rogers is firmly in the latter camp. The digital coins ‘are all going to go to zero and disappear.' However, Rogers is considerably more optimistic on the outlook for blockchain but is struggling to find the right investment. ‘I have not found the small- or medium-sized company which is going to make a fortune in blockchain.'