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d (deprecated_ii@poa.st)'s status on Tuesday, 27-Jun-2023 07:44:37 JST d so when you're looking at commodities like wheat or corn and they say a bushel of wheat is worth X dollars, is that wheat that's ready to be turned into flour, or what -
Woggy's Zeonic Frolicks (washedoutgundampilot@poa.st)'s status on Tuesday, 27-Jun-2023 07:44:37 JST Woggy's Zeonic Frolicks @deprecated_ii I remember looking into this and I don’t even think it’s a real, quantifiable thing, it’s like a spot price for future delivery under set contracts or something.
I think it’s wheat in the hull, too, kind of like rice - you may have a use for that crap
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NBS (nbs@noagendasocial.com)'s status on Tuesday, 27-Jun-2023 08:49:35 JST NBS @deprecated_ii @WashedOutGundamPilot @threalist
Depends by the specifics of the contracts, but I believe all agricultural commodities that are delivered are simply raw commodities. A bushel of wheat is just that, it still needs to be cleaned/refined/or whatever is done to make it into an end product.
The contracts are very real though. I have friends who have accidentally taken delivery of physical commodities and it’s a nightmare to deal with.
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Three-alist 🌲 (threalist@social.fbxl.net)'s status on Tuesday, 27-Jun-2023 08:49:38 JST Three-alist 🌲 Paging @NBS ? -
NBS (nbs@noagendasocial.com)'s status on Tuesday, 27-Jun-2023 08:49:51 JST NBS @WashedOutGundamPilot @deprecated_ii @threalist
Can’t help myself: this is why when front month oil futures went negative in price, you couldn’t really make money on it. The negative price of oil for delivery in 1 week reflected the fact that 1) no one was buying physical oil and 2) the storage costs of physically storing it. The negative price = what someone will pay you for it minus storage costs. No demand = purely cost to store it for a week.
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Woggy's Zeonic Frolicks (washedoutgundampilot@poa.st)'s status on Tuesday, 27-Jun-2023 08:51:50 JST Woggy's Zeonic Frolicks @NBS @threalist @deprecated_ii So when we look it up and it says “Wheat is X dollars” does that mean it’s like a spot price, a baseline negotiation value for use in general?
Or is that price the baseline for writing contracts?
Is it like when I go to the feed store and see the sign on the hay stack crossed over and rewritten four bucks more?
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NBS (nbs@noagendasocial.com)'s status on Tuesday, 27-Jun-2023 09:03:57 JST NBS @WashedOutGundamPilot @deprecated_ii @threalist
When you look up Wheat futures, that will show you the price for buying spot wheat for earliest delivery
There isn't a negotiation involved for standardized futures contracts, since the details are specific and standardized by the exchange
If you went to a farmer and negoiated a price for wheat deliverable in the future, you'd specify the time/amount/price; this is a forwards contract
Futures = standardized contract
Forwards = custom contractWoggy's Zeonic Frolicks likes this. -
Woggy's Zeonic Frolicks (washedoutgundampilot@poa.st)'s status on Tuesday, 27-Jun-2023 09:08:25 JST Woggy's Zeonic Frolicks @NBS @deprecated_ii @threalist Hmmm. Good to know. I wonder if we should be checking that kind of thing for our hay sales. I’ve got a couple friends with small holdings, they plant and harvest and just sell privately, almost out of tradition, or a hobby. As far as I know they don’t pay attention to their costs or anything, they just sell it to the same circle of friends they always did.
If I had to guess they’re probably selling at 2018 prices like dummies.
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NBS (nbs@noagendasocial.com)'s status on Tuesday, 27-Jun-2023 09:11:45 JST NBS @WashedOutGundamPilot @deprecated_ii @threalist
I'm not certain of your situation, but my grandpa was a farmer (mostly corn and soy). He monitored the CBOT/CME futures prices religously and would sometimes use them to hedge expected future yield.
It's worth looking into I'd guess, though guaranteed cash flow from private sales at stable prices is a good sure-thing.
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Woggy's Zeonic Frolicks (washedoutgundampilot@poa.st)'s status on Tuesday, 27-Jun-2023 09:13:47 JST Woggy's Zeonic Frolicks @NBS @deprecated_ii @threalist Yeah, I’ve never given much thought to it since it’s not my business, but when I bought the last load I knew the guy was probably too low. I’ve done that before, when you don’t track, you can’t know if you’re in the green or not. Lots of “I’m just doin’ it for fun” types don’t realize how expensive a hobby it is. I bought a truckful of #2 bales for $12/each, looks like $15-22 is the going rate for alfalfa here.
Thanks for the heads up, that gives me a very useful starting point to help out the kindly old guys. They’re good people….someone’s gotta look out for them.
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