Supply chain risk in grain trading: Inventories as real options for shipping grain

Integrating trading and logistics is an important challenge in commodity trading. Trading and logistics are strategic decisions and are integral to most commodities including grain shipping by rail, in addition to other modes (barges, ocean shipping). There are substantial risks, such as the ordering and placement of rail cars. The other risk is having sufficient grain stocks to load rail cars. Alternatives for managing these risks include holding grain inventories and the strategic use of shipping options. The purpose of this study is to develop a model for determining an optimal grain inventory strategy for shippers. The real option methodology is used to value uncertainty in rail car velocity and determine optimal purchases and inventories. The results show the importance of integrating trading and logistics decisions and illustrate that inventories can be interpreted and valued as real options that are affected by uncertainties. Taken together, the real options indicate how much extra inventory shippers should maintain to mitigate risks and maximize profits.