Here is update on Ethanol Industry – JBEI & Pacific Ethanol are in trouble along with US 2nd largest producer & 16 other ETOH plants in wave of bankruptcies or stalled construction.
Despite all problems some good news from the industry (bad for US consumer & tax payer) comes from stupid Fed regulations increasing ETOH percentage in gasoline from 7.76% to 10.21% in 2009 (means the production would need go from 9 to 11 billion gallons ETOH). This could turn out to be a paper move unless the US imports ETOH (which defeats purpose putting ETOH in) because US Corn crop production is down, plants are bankrupt/shutdown and public is wise to both decrease mileage and taxpayer subsidy required. And with US gas prices less than $2/gallon instead $3.5-4/gallon…. the subsidy required for ETOH gets much larger at time when subsidy is being phased out for established plants (which is why they are going under).
Regards
