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Please help in answering the attached 5 sub-parts based on the given information You are an agricultural market consultant for a Midwestern cooperative in Randall,

Please help in answering the attached 5 sub-parts based on the given information

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You are an agricultural market consultant for a Midwestern cooperative in Randall, Iowa. The cooperative purchases corn from local farmers, stores the corn during the course of the year, and then sells it to large corn processors like ADM and Cargill who use the corn to produce corn syrup, cattle feed, and ethanol. The cooperative's manager informs you that they have made agreements to sell 5,000,000 bushels of corn to their buyers in February for $4.10 per bushel. They have open agreements to purchase corn from local farmers on the spot market in November at spot market price. The cooperative's cost of carry is $0.15 per bushel per month. The cooperative's manager is concerned that the price of new-harvest corn may increase, thus increasing the cooperative's cost of purchasing corn in November and reducing their profits from their agreement with the corn processors. He asks you to help direct the cooperative's hedging efforts. It is currently April and cash corn prices are at $3.50 per bushel. Historically, the cash price for corn sold in November in Randall, has been $0.05 below the nearby futures price. (a) What should the cooperative manager do in the futures market to hedge the cooperative's corn purchases that they will make in November? (position, contract, number of contracts) (b) What is the manager's "expected hedge price?" That is, what price does the manager expect to have to pay for corn purchased in November given the cooperative hedges its future purchases? It is now November and the cooperative manager is ready to purchase corn from local farmers. The new-harvest cash corn price is now $3.95 per bushel. The nearby futures contract is trading at $4.02. (c) What is the realized hedge price (the price that the cooperative had to pay for the corn after accounting for gains or losses in the futures market)? (d) Was the cooperatives expected hedge price equal to their realized hedge price? If not, why? (e) Will the cooperative make money on their marketing strategy (forward contracting corn sales to large agribusinesses in February and using futures to hedge corn purchases in November)? How much will they make or lose? What would have happened had they chosen not to hedge their corn purchases? You are an agricultural market consultant for a Midwestern cooperative in Randall, Iowa. The cooperative purchases corn from local farmers, stores the corn during the course of the year, and then sells it to large corn processors like ADM and Cargill who use the corn to produce corn syrup, cattle feed, and ethanol. The cooperative's manager informs you that they have made agreements to sell 5,000,000 bushels of corn to their buyers in February for $4.10 per bushel. They have open agreements to purchase corn from local farmers on the spot market in November at spot market price. The cooperative's cost of carry is $0.15 per bushel per month. The cooperative's manager is concerned that the price of new-harvest corn may increase, thus increasing the cooperative's cost of purchasing corn in November and reducing their profits from their agreement with the corn processors. He asks you to help direct the cooperative's hedging efforts. It is currently April and cash corn prices are at $3.50 per bushel. Historically, the cash price for corn sold in November in Randall, has been $0.05 below the nearby futures price. (a) What should the cooperative manager do in the futures market to hedge the cooperative's corn purchases that they will make in November? (position, contract, number of contracts) (b) What is the manager's "expected hedge price?" That is, what price does the manager expect to have to pay for corn purchased in November given the cooperative hedges its future purchases? It is now November and the cooperative manager is ready to purchase corn from local farmers. The new-harvest cash corn price is now $3.95 per bushel. The nearby futures contract is trading at $4.02. (c) What is the realized hedge price (the price that the cooperative had to pay for the corn after accounting for gains or losses in the futures market)? (d) Was the cooperatives expected hedge price equal to their realized hedge price? If not, why? (e) Will the cooperative make money on their marketing strategy (forward contracting corn sales to large agribusinesses in February and using futures to hedge corn purchases in November)? How much will they make or lose? What would have happened had they chosen not to hedge their corn purchases

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