You end up with all sorts of odd distortions when you burn food for fuel. If interested see 2007's "Making Ethanol from Wheat is Stupid"
...Last May it was two of the most politically connected investors in the world, Carlyle Group* and Riverstone Holdings** building a wheat-to-ethanol plant in the same area, Teesside, that the poster boy of political connections, Enron, built their giant co-gen plant:....
From S&P Global Platts, April 12:
Increased retail fuel prices and fears of a COVID-19 resurgence have prompted refiners in India to slow crude runs. This week's tracker also looks at the impact of maintenance on US LNG terminal utilization and possible reductions in biodiesel blending mandates in some countries due to rising vegetable oil prices.
....3. Rising global vegetable oil prices could lead to reduced biodiesel blending mandates
....MUCH MOREWhat's happening? Global vegetable oil prices have increased sharply, mainly reflecting global low stocks, strong demand for food and energy, and also a slow output recovery, especially for palm oil. In Brazil, despite seasonally low stocks in January and an expected bumper 2021 crop, soybean oil prices have jumped over 28% from the lows in mid-January to record high prices in mid-March. CBOT futures reached a record in March, but the higher levels were not entirely offset by weaker FOB premiums.
What´s next? There are some factors that could limit the soybean oil price hike in the near term. Palm oil production in Malaysia and Indonesia is recovering and is expected to rebound in the next few months, providing additional supply to international markets. As vegetable oil prices rise, some biodiesel blending mandates could be temporarily lowered. Market participants reported possible mandate reductions in Argentina and Brazil in the next months....
The Teesside plant shut down in 2011 and was sold for a song to CropEnergies AG.
CropEnergies had to shut down again but reopened (again) in 2019 and seem to be making a go of it at reduced production and good prices for the Distillers Dried Grains mit Solubles used as animal feed.
