New EPA biofuel targets dent corn’s demand prospects

At the very least, lower usage targets for both ethanol and other biofuels are 
expected to reduce interest in expanding production in the sector

Many corn traders tried to shrug off the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to trim the U.S. renewable fuels usage targets for 2014 and 2015, noting that U.S. ethanol production is driven more by operating margins than government-mandated blending requirements and is likely to remain high as long as ethanol makers can make profits. But



Analysis: Are we near peak biofuels?

It is now clear, depending on where the boundary is set in life-cycle estimates of carbon emissions, 
that some biofuels offer limited or no benefits compared with conventional gasoline

London / Reuters / A stalled biofuel industry will need to produce far more efficient fuels to avoid setting off another bout of arguments over its contribution to boosting energy security and cutting carbon emissions. Biofuels had a difficult 2012. In the United States, Energy Information Administration data show production through November fell compared with


Think-tank sees U.S. ethanol output slump in 2012-13

U.S. ethanol makers will produce 12.6 billion gallons of ethanol this marketing year, well below the federal target for use of the renewable fuel, because of high corn prices due to drought, said the influential think-tank Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute March 8. “Production recovers in 2013-14 because of lower corn prices and the

Talking turkey over energy

The pre-American Thanksgiving decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to deny the meat industry requests for a waiver on that country’s renewable fuel standard did little to calm the rhetoric between the livestock and ethanol sectors over who should have access to limited corn supplies this year. Shortly after the announcement, the National Turkey


Ethanol output to drop 10 per cent

U.S. ethanol production will fall by 10 per cent in the coming year as rising prices from the drought cut exports in half, a University of Missouri think-tank forecast on Aug. 28. The Obama administration is weighing whether to relax a requirement to use corn-based ethanol in gasoline as meat and dairy farmers complain that

UN urges change in U.S. biofuel policy to avoid food crisis

The United Nations’ food agency stepped up the pressure on the United States on Aug. 10 to change its biofuel policies because of the danger of a world food crisis, arguing the importance of growing crops for food over their use for fuel. Global alarm over the potential for a food crisis of the kind