Ethanol Plants Reopen As Corn Futures Fall

Reuters reports that U.S. ethanol plants that have been shut for as many as five years are now coming back online as a record U.S. harvest has pushed down corn prices and improved profit margins for makers of the biofuel.

Agribusiness giant Cargill Inc. on Monday said it restarted a plant in Fort Dodge, IA, the company purchased in 2011. Noble Group Ltd said it will soon restart an Indiana ethanol plant that was shut for a year while another facility that was idled for five years in Ohio came back online last month.

U.S. farmers are gathering a corn crop expected to reach a record 14 billion bushels, pushing corn futures to the lowest levels in three years.

Ethanol margins are the highest since late 2009 — the last year of a record corn harvest — as ethanol makers turn profits buying corn and then selling the biofuel as well as byproducts such as distillers grains and corn oil.