Mid-County Newsletter MCnewsletter-spring14

YOU’RE IN y r t n u C o Mid-County 2014 MESSENGER INSIDE: PAGE 2 - 3 PAGE 4 - 5 Energy Agronomy PAGE 6 Auto Truck & Tire Center Spring 2014 • Vol. 25 www.midcountycoop.com Spring 2014 It is our job to make your life eas- ier. If your car or Bill Reimers truck has a break General Manager down, we’re here to [phone] fix it. [email protected] Worried about propane or fuel shortages? Our staff can handle it. A big thank you to our propane custom- ers for being partners with Mid-County this past fall and winter. We appreciate your willingness to work with us through some demanding weather, chest-deep snow, and a very challenging supply sea- son. Our connections with suppliers, truck- ing companies, and utilizing additional propane storage kept the wheels turning and made sure no one ran out at any time. Even though we were scrambling for product at times, in the end, we got through it. The propane supply has improved, and pricing is now much lower than the peak in January. We anticipate that we will be able to offer prepay prices for next fall and winter for well under $2.00. It seems that with any commodity these days, having adequate storage is key. A few years ago, we added propane storage; last fall, we increased our fuel storage by more than 1/3; and now, we are working on adding dry fertilizer stor- age. “Just-in-time” inventory, seems to be an issue we are going to continue to deal with in the future. The risk of waiting for river shipments, trucks, and trains in the peak season is too great. Additional storage also brings price risk along with it. Grain companies have long been able to hedge grain in small incre- ments. In the case of energy, you typically can hedge in 42,000-gallon increments. Fertilizer, on the other hand, is slowly offering some hedge opportunities that may be used in the near future. To put it in real numbers, if Mid-County owns 5,000 tons of unsold fertilizer, and the price drops $100 per ton, that is a $500,000 loss. So it is important to have a solid risk management plan in place to protect the company from losses. Inside the newsletter, you will see an article on Dale Schmitz celebrating 25 years at Mid-County. Doing our best to maintain an experienced and depend- able group of employees is what has kept us going strong for over 78 years. As always, I appreciate your comments and suggestions to make your co-op bet- ter. H O N E S T Y • I N T E G R I T Y • VA LU E AGRONOMY 700 Lake Street West, Cologne, MN 55322 [phone] 700 Lake Street West, Cologne, MN 55322 [phone] COLOGNE 710 Lake Street West, Cologne, MN 55322 [phone] Hwy. 212 & Hwy. 284, Cologne, MN 55322 [phone] [phone] • 888-466-3700 • 700 Lake Street West, P.O. Box 177, Cologne