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Ethanol Industry Sees Change
By Mr Ethanol | February 6, 2008
RedOrbit:
From the outside, the ethanol industry looks a bit beat up, but insiders say they’re ready to go another round.
From canceled plants, like Panda Ethanol’s in Wallace, Neb., to blame for pushing food costs up, the news has not been good for ethanol.
“The ethanol industry is really in its adolescent stage, and like an adolescent, it’s going through some growing pains,” said Bill Pentak, spokesman for Panda, which is building a plant near Hereford.
“It’s not unusual, and in fact, to a certain extent it’s a good thing in that the industry is taking shape and growing.”
That’s not to say the ride has been smooth.
“We’ve had an interesting 18 months,” said Kevin Kuykendall, CEO of White Energy, which started production at its Hereford plant in January. “The good, the bad and the ugly all showed up.”
Corn, the basic ingredient in the alternative fuel, has gotten more than just expensive, with some futures prices at $5 or more than double the 2004 price. Credit markets pulled back from funding what looked like an industry with too much product coming online.
And then the price for ethanol went from a sustained level of about $2.60 a gallon to a high of nearly $5 to a low in the neighborhood of $1.40.
“It’s hard to get construction started now,” Kuykendall said. “But operating plants will be all right. I think we’ll see a slowdown in construction.” Read more.
Topics: Ethanol, Industry, News |
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