US EPA PROPOSES 2012 ETHANOL USE AT 13.2 BLN GALLONS
WASHINGTON, June 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. would have to use 13.2 billion gallons of mostly corn-based ethanol in 2012 as mandated by Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed on Tuesday, but the agency slashed the target for advanced cellulosic ethanol output.
The EPA proposed cutting the amount of cellulosic ethanol, which is made from switchgrass and other agricultural waste, that must be produced next year to between 3.45 million and 12.9 million gallons from the original goal of 500 million gallons.
US MAY REDUCE CELLULOSIC TARGET IN BIOFUEL MANDATE
WASHINGTON, June 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is set to unveil next year's mandate for renewable fuels as soon as Tuesday, likely cutting back the target for making the fuel from cellulosic sources for a second year, industry and agency sources said.
While the 2012 target to produce 13.2 billion gallons (60 billion litres) of corn-based ethanol are unlikely to be much altered since the industry is already exceeding the volume, the second-generation biofuel producers have failed to thrive due expensive enzymes needed to make the advanced fuel.
BRAZIL COULD EXPAND ETHANOL STOCK FINANCING-REPORT
SAO PAULO, June 21 (Reuters) - Brazil's government may finance fuel distributors to build ethanol stocks equivalent to one month of consumption in an attempt to avert price spikes between cane harvests, a local newspaper said on Tuesday.
Folha de S. Paulo newspaper said the the proposal was presented to President Dilma Rousseff on Monday in a meeting with several ministers, without citing the source of the information. The stocks would be kept at the mills.
BIOFUELS ARE JOB CREATORS, NOT HUNGER VILLIAN-U.S.
WASHINGTON, June 20 (Reuters) - Biofuels are a "tremendous job creator" for rural areas, said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday, ahead of a global meeting where the farm-grown fuels may be criticized as a factor in high food prices.
Later this week in Paris, agriculture ministers from the Group of 20 rich nations are expected to agree to share data on crop output and supplies more widely, as a step to calm volatile commodity markets, Vilsack told reporters.
ETHANOL'S CLOUT IN US GOV TO ENSURE SUBSIDY DEAL
WASHINGTON, June 20 (Reuters) - Big Ethanol has enough clout in Congress and in the Obama administration to keep growing with U.S. government support, even though decades of large tax credits may be winding down.
Amid pressure to cut yawning U.S. deficit and debt, the Senate voted overwhelmingly late last week to immediately repeal subsidies for the ethanol industry, first won in 1978, that now cost tax payers about $6 billion a year.
ETHANOL GROWN UP, WILL WITHSTAND U.S. SUBSIDY LOSS
KANSAS CITY, Mo., June 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. ethanol industry is growing up. Moves in Washington to start weaning producers off government support are not expected to stunt a sector that had often been perceived as too fragile to withstand the travails of market forces.
This week's largely symbolic Senate vote to eliminate $6 billion in federal subsidies refocused attention on an industry that consumes nearly 40 percent of America's corn crop. Yet, experts and analysts had but one gesture: to shrug.
BRAZIL'S ETHANOL EXPORTS DRY UP DUE TO PRICE HIKE
SAO PAULO, June 16 (Reuters) - Recent sales of Brazilian ethanol to the United States now appear to have dried up after soaring local prices made it more viable to deal on the local market, brokers and an analyst said on Thursday.
After importing corn-based ethanol earlier this year, mills in Brazil reversed the flow of trade with the United States and sold about 300 million liters (79 million gallons) of cane-based ethanol to the U.S. over the past few months. Some of it went via the Caribbean for tax reasons.
SENATE LOOKS AT PLANS TO CUT ETHANOL SUBSIDIES
June 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to eliminate $6 billion in subsidies for the ethanol industry, although the measure must clear high political hurdles before it would take effect.
While farmers and the ethanol industry like biofuels programs, the incentives have been targeted by environmentalists and lawmakers looking to cut spending, as well as the World Bank, which says they are driving up world food prices.
HIGH COSTS SEEN HAMPERING USE OF ALGAE AS BIOFUEL
WAGENINGEN, Netherlands, June 16 (Reuters) - The cost of farming algae as a biofuel must be cut by about 90 percent if it is to become commercially viable and reduce pressure on food prices, according to research by Dutch scientists.
Major companies including oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp , Finnish refiner Neste Oil and Dutch vitamin maker DSM are investing in algae production technology in order to develop biofuel.
GASOLINE BLENDERS BUY RINS AS ETHANOL PLANTS SLOW
NEW YORK, June 16 (Reuters) - The high price of corn and low price of ethanol have some gasoline blenders and refiners contemplating buying RINS and banking them in the event that ethanol becomes scarce.
Late last week, after U.S. data showed the U.S. corn harvest was expected to be 2 percent lower than previously forecast, corn prices soared, ethanol prices fell and prices of RINS moved up to the 4.30 cent per gallon level.
CELANESE FACES U.S. ROAD BLOCK ON ETHANOL
HOUSTON, June 15 (Reuters) - Celanese Corp is spending more than $700 million to turn coal and natural gas into ethanol, but so far the chemical maker cannot sell any of the fuel in the United States.
U.S. renewable fuel standards dictate that 15 billion gallons of ethanol blended into gasoline each year come from corn.
US ETHANOL PLANTS TOY WITH WHEAT, COMMITTED TO CORN
KANSAS CITY, June 15 (Reuters) - A rare inversion in prices of corn and wheat is prompting some ethanol plants to consider a previously unthinkable measure -- using wheat as their feedstock for producing the popular biofuel.
With the price of Chicago corn surging 5 percent, or more than 40 cents, above wheat, the economics of a short-term switch are asserting themselves.
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