Basis
The local half of the price, by delivery point and by month, against what each buyer has historically paid.
By delivery point
| Buyer | Kind | Basis | Cash bid | Five year average | Against history | Basis contracts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atchison River Terminal Atchison, KS | River terminal | -$0.03 | $4.24 | $0.05 | -$0.08 | Yes |
| Smith Center Feeders Smith Center, KS | Feedlot | -$0.05 | $4.22 | -$0.07 | +$0.02 | Cash and HTA only |
| Clay Center Ethanol Clay Center, KS | Ethanol plant | -$0.06 | $4.21 | -$0.04 | -$0.02 | Yes |
| Belleville Co-op Belleville, KS | Country elevator | -$0.10 | $4.17 | -$0.19 | +$0.09 | Yes |
| Washington County Elevator Washington, KS | Country elevator | -$0.14 | $4.13 | -$0.19 | +$0.05 | Cash and HTA only |
| Concordia Grain Concordia, KS | Country elevator | -$0.23 | $4.04 | -$0.19 | -$0.04 | Yes |
| Hebron Farmers Co-op Hebron, NE | Country elevator | -$0.24 | $4.03 | -$0.19 | -$0.05 | Yes |
| Mankato Elevator Mankato, KS | Country elevator | -$0.31 | $3.96 | -$0.19 | -$0.12 | Cash and HTA only |
Bids are quoted at the scale house and do not net freight. A processor or a river terminal pays over a country elevator because it is bidding for a bushel it needs, and it is usually the longer haul, so the best bid on this table is not always the best net for a given farm. The last column matters for a client with grain in the bin and an opinion about the board: a basis contract locks the local half now and leaves the futures half open.
Twelve months at Atchison River Terminal
Basis is weakest at harvest, when every farm in the county hauls at once and the elevator has all the bushels it can handle, and it improves through the winter and spring as those bushels ship and the elevator has to bid for more. At this point that recovery is worth $0.04 a bushel between Aug and Jul, which is the entire economic case for on-farm storage and the number Carry and Storage nets against what holding the grain costs.