Questions 48 through 54 are related.

48.The annual harvest of feed corn occurs in October but demand is spread evenly throughout the year.Suppose monthly demand for feed corn has been estimated to be Q_Dt = 90 - 3.1 P_t where Q_Dt is the demand in month t and P_t is the price in month t.Monthly storage costs, which include a profit to cover the opportunity cost of tying up funds while storing, are estimated to be $0.10 per bushel per month.The price must rise every month to compensate for storage costs.So if the price is P in October, it must be P+$0.10 in November and then P+$0.20 in December and so on through the following September.Plugging the monthly prices into the monthly demand curves and then summing the monthly demand curves determine the annual demand.The Price in October, P, will be the only variable in the Demand function.Assuming corn is not stored beyond one year [or that the quantity of corn stored beyond one year is held constant] and imports and exports are not permitted, the annual demand must equal the annual supply.If the annual supply of feed corn from the October harvest is forecast to be 900 bushels, what will be the price of feed corn when the harvest is completed in early October?Write the answer in dollars and round off to one cent.

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49.With reference to question 48, what price is forecast for March?Write the price in dollars and round-off to one cent, for example write $3.45 or $4.42.

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50.With reference to question 48, what price is forecast for July?

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51.With reference to the previous questions, what is the forecast for the quantity demanded for the month of December?Write the quantity and round-off to two decimal places, for example write34.76 or 52.17.

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52.With reference to the previous questions, what is the forecast for the quantity demanded for the month of August?Write the quantity and round-off to two decimal places, for example write34.76 or 52.17.

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53.Assume in the futures market, the July corn contract is trading at $5.35 per bushel and you are a manufacturer that will need 200,000 bushels of corn in July.Based on your analysis above and assuming you are "risk neutral", to minimize costs, you would:

a.Buy corn in the futures market because in July, when the contract matures and corn is needed, you forecast the market price will be greater than $5.35.

b.Sell corn in the futures market because in July, when the contract matures and corn is needed, you forecast it will trade for less than $5.35.

c.Not buy corn in the futures market because in July, when the contract matures and corn is needed, you forecast the market price will be less than $5.35.

d.Not sell corn in the futures market because in July, when the contract matures and corn is needed, you forecast it will trade for more than $5.35.

e.Answers b. and d. are correct.

54.Assume in the futures market, the July corn contract is trading at $5.35 per bushel and you are a farmer that grows corn and will have corn in storage to sell in July.Based on your analysis above and assuming you are "risk neutral", to maximize profit, you would:

a.Buy corn in the futures market because in July, when the contract matures, you forecast it will trade for more than $5.35.

b.Sell corn in the futures market because in July, when the contract matures, it will trade for less than $5.35.

c.Not trade corn in the futures market because in July, when the contract matures, you forecast there are no profit opportunities.

d.Not sell corn in the futures market because in July, when the contract matures, you forecast it will trade for more than $5.35.

e.Answers a. and c. are correct.