"Seattle's Best" is a U$.$S$.$ based importer of coffee from Indonesia. The firm realizes they will need $112,500$ pounds of coffee in May of $2024.$ What options does the firm have? Note: Please pay attention to details in terms of how the answer choices are worded. I am not trying to trick you. However, paying attention to details is important in today's fast$-$paced business environment.

I.

They can sell $3$ July $2024$ coffee futures contracts today, at the price at which the July $2024$ contract is trading for today. This way, they are locking in the price today, for the commodity that they will need in July of $2024.$ By selling the $3$ contracts today, Seattle's Best now has options$/$alternatives they can pursue at a later date. They can let the contracts expire in late July of $2024$ at which point they will be obligated to deliver $112,500$ pounds of coffee to the coffee futures exchange at the new price at which they sold the contracts on December $1,2023.$ Or$...$they can buy the $3$ contracts before they expire which will free them up to sell the coffee to some other source.

II$.$

They can sell $3$ July $2024$ coffee futures contracts today, at the price at which the July $2024$ contract is trading for today. This way, they are locking in the price today, for the commodity that they will need in July of $2024.$ By selling the $3$ contracts today, Seattle's Best now has options$/$alternatives they can pursue at a later date. They can let the contracts expire in late July of $2024$ at which point they will be obligated to deliver $112,500$ pounds of coffee to the coffee futures exchange at the original price at which they sold the contracts on December $1,2023.$ Or$...$they can buy the $3$ contracts before they expire which will free them up to sell the coffee to some other source.

III.

They can buy $3$ July $2024$ coffee futures contracts today, at the price at which the July $2024$ contract is trading for today. This way, they are locking in the price today, for the commodity that they will need in July of $2024.$ By buying the $3$ contracts today, Seattle's Best now has options$/$alternatives they can pursue at a later date. They can let the contracts expire in late July of $2024$ at which point they will be obligated to take delivery of $112,500$ pounds of coffee from the coffee futures exchange at the new price at which they purchased the contracts on December $1,2023.$ Or$...$they can sell the $3$ contracts before they expire, which will free them up to buy the coffee they need from some other source.

IV$.$

They can buy $3$ July $2024$ coffee futures contracts today, at the price at which the July $2024$ contract is trading for today. This way, they are locking in the price today, for the commodity that they will need in July of $2024.$ By purchasing the $3$ contracts today, Seattle's Best now has options$/$alternatives they can pursue at a later date. They can let the contracts expire in late July of $2024$ at which point they will be obligated to take delivery of $112,500$ pounds of coffee from the coffee futures exchange at the price at which they purchased the contracts on December $1,2023.$ Or$...$they can sell the $3$ contracts before they expire, which will free them up to buy the coffee they need from some other source.