Backwardation

n. reversal of prices (Economics)

Backwardation (sometimes incorrectly referred to as "backwardization") is a futures market term: it means a downward sloping forward curve (as in an inverted yield curve): one says that the forward curve is "in backwardation" (or sometimes: "backwardated").Formally, it is the situation where, and the amount by which, the price of a commodity for future delivery is lower than the spot price, or a far future delivery price lower than a nearer future delivery.The opposite market condition to backwardation is known as contango.
See more at Wikipedia.org...

(n.)
The seller's postponement of delivery of stock or shares, with the consent of the buyer, upon payment of a premium to the latter; -- also, the premium so paid. See Contango.
  

A market condition in which futures prices  are lower in the distant delivery months than in the nearest delivery month. This situation may occur when the costs of storing the product until eventual delivery are effectively subtracted from the price today. The opposite of contango.