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4. DERIVATIVES
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Sep. 30, 2012
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| Derivatives | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4. DERIVATIVES |
The business and activities of the Company expose it to a variety of market risks, including risks related to changes in commodity prices and interest rates. The Company monitors and manages these financial exposures as an integral part of its risk management program. This program recognizes the unpredictability of financial markets and seeks to reduce the potentially adverse effects that market volatility could have on operating results.
Commodity Risk – Cash Flow Hedges – The Company uses derivative instruments to protect cash flows from fluctuations caused by volatility in commodity prices for periods of up to twelve months in order to protect gross profit margins from potentially adverse effects of market and price volatility on ethanol sale and purchase commitments where the prices are set at a future date and/or if the contracts specify a floating or index-based price for ethanol. In addition, the Company hedges anticipated sales of ethanol to minimize its exposure to the potentially adverse effects of price volatility. These derivatives may be designated and documented as cash flow hedges and effectiveness is evaluated by assessing the probability of the anticipated transactions and regressing commodity futures prices against the Company’s purchase and sales prices. Ineffectiveness, which is defined as the degree to which the derivative does not offset the underlying exposure, is recognized immediately in cost of goods sold. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011, the Company did not designate any of its derivatives as cash flow hedges.
Commodity Risk – Non-Designated Hedges – The Company uses derivative instruments to lock in prices for certain amounts of corn and ethanol by entering into forward contracts for those commodities. These derivatives are not designated for special hedge accounting treatment. The changes in fair value of these contracts are recorded on the balance sheet and recognized immediately in cost of goods sold. The Company recognized losses of $52,000 and gains of $395,000 as the change in the fair value of these contracts for the three months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively. The Company recognized gains of $202,000 and $334,000 as the change in the fair value of these contracts for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively. The notional balances remaining on these contracts were $24,102,000 and $9,186,000 as of September 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011, respectively.
Non-Designated Derivative Instruments – The Company classified its derivative instruments not designated as hedging instruments of $514,000 and $291,000 in other assets and accrued liabilities as of September 30, 2012, respectively, and $244,000 and $500,000 in other assets and accrued liabilities as of December 31, 2011, respectively.
The classification and amounts of the Company’s recognized gains (losses) for its derivatives not designated as hedging instruments are as follow (in thousands):
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