COLUMN-U.S. FUEL BLENDERS SEE STRONG ETHANOL APPEAL: MAGUIRE
--Gavin Maguire is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own. To get his real-time views on the market, please join the Global Ags Forum. --
CHICAGO, March 18 (Reuters) - U.S. fuel blenders on Thursday faced their strongest incentive in nearly a year to increase the ethanol content in gasoline, thanks to a sharp rally in gasoline prices that widened the spread between gas and ethanol to its highest level since last spring.
But this higher level of demand is unlikely to spur increased ethanol output over the near term given the enduring tightness in ethanol production margins, which only recently rebounded into positive territory after dropping into the red a month ago.
BRAZIL BNDES TO LEND $593 MLN TO ETHANOL RESEARCH
SAO PAULO, March 17 (Reuters) - Brazil's development bank, the BNDES, said on Thursday it would provide 1 billion reais ($593 million) in loans to the ethanol industry until 2014 for technology development, in partnership with the Science Ministry.
The aim is to coordinate all government financing for development of technologies related to second-generation ethanol, or cellulosic ethanol, which could boost the quantity of fuel obtained from the same amount of raw material.
GOOGLE BACKS BIOMASS FUEL FIRM COOLPLANETBIOFUELS
SAN FRANCISCO, March 17 (Reuters) - The venture capital arm of Google Inc has invested in a start-up that is developing technology to produce fuel from inedible biomass such as grass and wood chips .
The process, deployed by CoolPlanetBiofuels, also produces a byproduct that can capture carbon and also be added to soil to improve crop yields, leading to what Google Ventures described as a "negative carbon fuel."
REUTERS SUMMIT-SYNGENTA ETHANOL CORN SEEN ON UNDER 20,000 ACRES
CHICAGO, March 16 (Reuters) - A month after receiving regulatory approval, Swiss agricultural company Syngenta is starting to sign up U.S. farmers to grow its new biotech corn seed aimed at ethanol production, but expects to enroll less than 20,000 acres in a contracted growing arrangement this spring, a top company executive said Wednesday.
Syngenta is meeting with growers in the western corn belt, primarily Kansas and Nebraska, to contract for acres for this growing season for planting of the new corn amylase, which Syngenta calls "Enogen.
BRAZIL STEPS UP ETHANOL IMPORTS AS SUPPLIES SHRINK
SAO PAULO, March 16 (Reuters) - Brazil has imported more than 150 million liters of U.S. ethanol this year as producers struggle to supply the local market during cane interharvest, the director of a large ethanol group estimated on Wednesday.
The volume includes several shipments that arrived in the country's northeast, and a cargo of 40 million liters that is heading to Santos, Brazil's No.1 sugar port which is situated in the country's main center-south cane producing region.
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