Lease Rates

What are Lease Rates?

As we pay interest rates for financial instruments, we pay lease rates for commodities similarly. We define lease rate as the amount of interest a lender of a commodity requires. The lease rate is defined as the investor’s amount of return to buy and then lend a commodity. In other words, the lease rate represents the cost of borrowing the commodity. The lease and risk-free rates are important inputs to determine the commodity forward price.

Examples of Lease Rates:

The commodity forward price for time T with an active lease market is expressed as:
F_0,T = S₀ × [(1 + r) / (1 + δ)]^T
where:
S₀ = current spot price
r = risk-free rate
δ = lease rate
The lease rate, δ, is income earned only if the commodity is loaned out.
Let’s take an example of a commodity forward. If we have one year forward for corns with a spot price of $5 and a lease rate of 7%, with a risk-free rate of 9%. The forward price would be:
F_0,T = 5 × [(1 + 0.09) / (1 + 07)]¹= 5.093