Futures Spread Risk in Soybean Multi-Year Hedge-To-Arrive Contracts

Soybean futures spreads in the 1948-1997 period are evaluated for the associated monetary risks inherent in multiyear hedge-to-arrive contracts (HTAs). For all years, the probability of having a negative old crop-new crop spread is approximately 75%. However, the high-price years have a 100% probability of having a negative spread and a 50-60% probability of having a negative spread exceeding 10 percent. The spread risk in high price years makes a multiyear HTA an imprecise hedge. Thus, establishing new crop prices close to current futures prices by initially using old crop futures is unlikely