One thing about the ethanol sector, … it never stops pushing for more, more, more.
Like right now, the industry is pushing EPA to sign off on higher blends of ethanol into gasoline. Currently the cap is 10 percent.
Why do they want higher blends approved? Simple. Ethanol is more expensive than gasoline right now.
According to the America Coalition for Ethanol, for December 3, 2008, the average rack price - or wholesale price - of ethanol in Nebraska is $1.81 per gallon.…
Cattle herd liquidation seen as troubling sign
Wednesday, May 21, 2008, 4:15 PM
by Peter Shinn
The Daily Livestock Report published by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday noted troubling evidence of cattle herd liquidation. The report’s author’s, livestock economists Steve Meyer and Len Steiner noted an increased pace of cattle slaughter this year amid steadily climbing feed costs.
“Despite high cow slaughter rates in 2006 and 2007, current cow slaughter remains well above year ago levels,” the Report said. “Weekly beef cow slaughter…
The biofuel mandate in the recently enacted (misnamed) Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires 36 billion gallons of the nation’s motor fuel supply to come from biofuels by 2022, with corn ethanol maxing out at 15 bn gallons a year in 2015 and the rest coming from “advanced biofuels” (a.k.a. anything except corn kernels).
The tendency of all entitlements is to grow. Will corn farmers and corn ethanol producers remain content with 15 bn gallons if, as 2015 approaches, they find they can produce…
No governor in country has been more active in the past year in recruiting bio-fuels plants to his satte than Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. We wonder is some of his recruits are starting to feel burned?
VeraSun suspends construction in Indiana
By Staff Reports
Argus Leader
PUBLISHED: October 1, 2007
VeraSun Energy Corp., one of the nation’s largest ethanol producers, today announced that it will suspend construction of its 110 million-gallon-per-year ethanol biorefinery in Reynolds, Ind., due to weak market conditions.
…
CHICAGO, Oct 1 (Reuters) - JPMorgan cut its full-year earnings estimate for Archer Daniels Midland Co to$2.29 per share, down from $2.69, in anticipation of lower earnings from biodiesel and lower ethanol prices, the brokerage said on Monday.
JP Morgan maintained its rating of “overweight,” believing that infrastructure investments will boost ethanol demand and improve ethanol economics, said analyst Pablo Zuanic.
ADM shares were up 17 cents, or 0.51 percent, in early morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. So far…
National Agricultural Statistics Service
U.S. Farmers Plant Largest Corn Crop in 63 Years
WASHINGTON, Jun. 29, 2007 - U.S. farmers planted 92.9 million acres of corn in 2007, exceeding last year’s planted area by 19 percent and surpassing the March projection by 3 percent, according to the Acreage report released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). The actual planted acreage is the highest since 1944, when farmers planted 95.5 million corn acres.
Driven by favorable prices, growing…
In “Biofuels pose no threat to OPEC, says IEA,” the Financial Times (June 7, 2007) offers several sobering observations:
My colleague Richard Morrison has a hilarious blog post today featuring two Wall Street Journal columns, one from 1978 forecasting solar power meeting 20% of U.S. energy needs by 2000 (actual amount: about 1/10th of 1%) and a recent WSJ column announcing that renewable fuels may meet 25% of our energy needs by 2025. The most renewable thing about renewables is, apparently, the techno-fantasies they inspire.
According to the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, ethanol refineries in Iowa produced a record 1.5 billion gallons of the corn-based renewable fuel during 2006, up 36% from the previous record of 1.1 billion set in 2005.
To achieve that mark, more than 550 million bushels of corn, or roughly 25% of Iowa’s 2005 harvest, were processed in Iowa’s refineries, the latest of which came on-line in December. As of December, there are 26 refineries in operation with an annual capacity of…
“Be like Brazil” have never beeen words to live by except perhaps in soccer or samba. But suddenly Americans are being told we should imitate Brazil in its expensive devotion to driving cars that run on ethanol. VeraSun Energy, the second-lartgest U.S. ethanol producer, was the talk of Wall Street this week with its IPO. Wal-Mart wants to install pumps to cater to cars that run on a largely ethanol blend. Even Rudy Giuliani was plumping for the stuff this…
