Store or sell grain calculator
Sell at harvest, or store it and wait for a better price? Put in your own numbers to see what storing really leaves you after storage, handling, losses and the cost of waiting for the money.
Store it or sell it now?
On these numbers storing pays: after storage, handling, losses and interest you keep $5,150 more than selling now.
To break even after 4 months you need $329.65/t later - +$29.65/t on today’s $300/t.
- Storage
- $6,000
- Handling & testing
- $4,000
- Lost in storage
- 2.5 t
- Interest on the money
- $4,000
- Each extra month costs
- $2,500
Gain or loss from storing if the later price is different
| Later price | Whole lot | A tonne |
|---|---|---|
| $300/t | -$14,750 | -$29.50 |
| $320/t | -$4,800 | -$9.60 |
| $340/t | +$5,150 | +$10.30 |
| $360/t | +$15,100 | +$30.20 |
| $380/t | +$25,050 | +$50.10 |
How we work it out
- Sell now: tonnes × price now. Store and sell later: the tonnes left after the loss in storage × the later price, less storage ($/t a month × months), handling, any extra freight and interest.
- Interest: the money you would have had at harvest × your rate × the months you wait (simple interest) - what it would save on an overdraft or earn in the bank.
- Break-even later price: the price that leaves you exactly what selling now would. Each extra month: one more month of storage plus interest for the whole lot.
This is arithmetic on your own numbers, not a price forecast or marketing advice - nobody knows what the price will do. Storing also carries risks this doesn’t price, such as quality falling below a grade, and contract terms vary, so check your storage and selling contracts. Work out how much is in a silo with the silo calculator, the drying shrink with the grain moisture calculator and whether the crop pays with the gross margin calculator. Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere.
Need storage, hay or machinery?
Buy and sell silos, hay, farm land and machinery from farmers and dealers on the REALM Marketplace.