Question

Back in May 2020, an ethanol plant’s risk manager looked at futures prices and considered a hedge to lock in a price on part of her new-crop corn acquisition planned for mid-to-late October 2020. She saw that the December 2020 futures contract was trading at $3.20/bushel and she knew that the basis in mid-October—when she expected to take delivery of the corn in question and to lift the hedge (i.e., to offset her futures position)—has typically (most years) been about 25 cents under December. What net price did she, back in May, expect to pay in October 2020 if she placed this hedge? d. $2.80/bu b. $2.95/bu c. $3.20/bu a. $3.45/bu e. None of the above

Answer 1

Basis is most often calculated as the difference between the cash price and the futures contract.

Hence expectation is that price at time of hedge closure would be ~3.2-0.25 = 2.95

Hence, answer is option b. $2.95/bu