7. DERIVATIVE INSTRUMENTS

The Company enters into corn, ethanol, and natural gas derivatives in order to protect cash flows from fluctuations caused by volatility in commodity prices for periods up to 24 months. These derivatives are put in place to protect gross profit margins from potentially adverse effects of market and price volatility on ethanol sales and corn purchase commitments where the prices are set at a future date. Although these derivative instruments serve the Company’s purpose as an economic hedge, they are not designated as effective hedges for accounting purposes. For derivative instruments that are not accounted for as hedges, or for the ineffective portions of qualifying hedges, the change in fair value is recorded through earnings in the period of change.

As of October 31, 2019, the total notional amount of GFE’s outstanding corn derivative instruments was approximately 7,495,000 bushels, comprised of long corn futures positions on 3,345,000 bushels that were entered into to hedge forecasted ethanol sales through July 2020, and short corn futures positions on 4,150,000 bushels that were entered into to hedge forecasted corn purchases through December 2022. Additionally, there are corn options positions of 4,000,000 bushels through March 2020. There may be offsetting positions that are not shown on a net basis that could lower the notional amount of positions outstanding.

As of October 31, 2019, GFE did not have any cash collateral (restricted cash) related to derivatives held by a broker.

As of October 31, 2019, the total notional amount of HLBE’s outstanding corn derivative instruments was approximately 5,398,000 bushels, comprised of long corn futures positions on 2,131,000 bushels that were entered into to hedge forecasted ethanol sales through July 2020, and short corn futures positions on 3,267,000 bushels that were entered into to hedge forecasted corn purchases through December 2021. Additionally, there are corn options positions of 4,000,000 bushels through March 2020. There may be offsetting positions that are not shown on a net basis that could lower the notional amount of positions outstanding.

As of October 31, 2019, HLBE had approximately $52,000 in cash collateral (restricted cash) related to derivatives held by a broker.

The following tables provide details regarding the Company’s derivative instruments at October 31, 2019, none of which were designated as hedging instruments:


	Consolidated Balance Sheet Location	Assets		Liabilities
Corn contracts - GFE	Commodity derivative instruments	$	612,713	$	—
Corn contracts - HLBE	Commodity derivative instruments		20,060		—
Ethanol contracts - GFE	Commodity derivative instruments		114,562		—
Ethanol contracts - HLBE	Commodity derivative instruments		75,763		—
Totals		$	823,098	$	—

As of October 31, 2018, the total notional amount of GFE’s outstanding corn derivative instruments was approximately 3,105,000 bushels, comprised of long corn positions on 575,000 bushels that were entered into to hedge forecasted ethanol sales through July 2019, and short corn positions on 2,530,000 bushels that were entered into to hedge forecasted corn purchases through December 2021. There may be offsetting positions that are not shown on a net basis that could lower the notional amount of positions outstanding.

As of October 31, 2018, GFE did not have any cash collateral (restricted cash) related to derivatives held by a broker.

As of October 31, 2018, the total notional amount of HLBE’s outstanding corn derivative instruments was approximately 2,685,000 bushels, comprised of long corn positions on 510,000 bushels that were entered into to hedge forecasted ethanol sales through July 2019, and short corn positions on 2,175,000 bushels that were entered into to hedge forecasted corn purchases through March 2020. There may be offsetting positions that are not shown on a net basis that could lower the notional amount of positions outstanding.

As of October 31, 2018, HLBE did not have any cash collateral (restricted cash) related to derivatives held by a broker.

The following tables provide details regarding the Company’s derivative instruments at October 31, 2018, none of which were designated as hedging instruments:


	Consolidated Balance Sheet Location	Assets		Liabilities
Corn contracts - GFE	Commodity derivative instruments	$	532,300	$	—
Corn contracts - HLBE	Commodity derivative instruments		425,638		—
Corn contracts - GFE	Commodity derivative instruments		—		25,180
Corn contracts - HLBE	Commodity derivative instruments		—		25,180
Totals		$	957,938	$	50,360

The following tables provide details regarding the gains (losses) from Company’s derivative instruments in statements of operations, none of which are designated as hedging instruments:


	Consolidated Statement	Fiscal Year Ended October 31,
	of Operations Location	2019		2018		2017
Corn contracts	Cost of Goods Sold	$	1,105,528	$	2,142,041	$	1,129,746
Ethanol contracts	Revenues		220,080		107,995		(414,829)
Natural gas contracts	Cost of Goods Sold		—		(1,598)		(15,381)
Total gain		$	1,325,608	$	2,248,438	$	699,536