Integrated Options and Spot Procurement for Commodity Processors

35 Pages Posted: 30 Jul 2011 Last revised: 11 Dec 2011

See all articles by Ankur Goel

Ankur Goel

Case Western Reserve University - Weatherhead School of Management

Fehmi Tanrisever

Bilkent University, Faculty of Business Administration

Date Written: December 10, 2011

Abstract

We consider a firm that procures a commodity through a combination of options and spot contracts to process it and then distribute it to the downstream retailers to satisfy random demand. This commodity is traded on an organized exchange where evolution of prices offers no risk-free arbitrage. The firm incurs transportation costs when exercising the physical delivery of the contracts. Transportation cost in the spot market is higher than in options markets because spot purchases need to be expedited through an expensive means of transportation. Commodity purchased through options contract arrives with a lead time of one period while spot procurement has a zero lead time. The objective of the firm is to maximize the value for its stakeholders in a multi-period model. We demonstrate that the procurement options create value for a firm by managing demand risk in the presence of transportation costs. We characterize the optimal policy for options procurement, options exercise, and spot buying/selling in a multi-period model. In addition, we identify conditions under which the options contracts are more valuable than the forward contracts for the firm. We show that the value of procurement through options contract increases with demand volatility and decreases with price volatility.

Keywords: Commodity Markets, Options, Procurement, Logistical Costs

JEL Classification: G13, D21, Q40

Suggested Citation

Goel, Ankur and Tanrisever, Fehmi, Integrated Options and Spot Procurement for Commodity Processors (December 10, 2011). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1898866 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1898866

Ankur Goel (Contact Author)

Case Western Reserve University - Weatherhead School of Management ( email )

10900 Euclid Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44106-7235
United States

Fehmi Tanrisever

Bilkent University, Faculty of Business Administration ( email )

Bilkent
Ankara, 06800
Turkey

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
211
Abstract Views
1,612
Rank
261,591
PlumX Metrics