World Grain - October 2008 - 63

BIOFUELS QUARTERLY

U.S. case of BSE -
a ticking time bomb?

Biofuels
News Review
E.U. panel votes to cut
biofuels target from crops
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - A key panel of European Union (E.U.)
lawmakers voted on Sept. 11 to lower a target for using traditional
biofuels produced from crops in road transportation fuel by 2020 as
part of the E.U.'s plan to fight climate change.
The executive European Commission has proposed that 10% of
all road transport fuel should come from renewable sources, without
specifying how much of that should be biofuels or vehicles powered
by renewable electricity or hydrogen.
The European Parliament's influential industry committee en-

dorsed the overall target but voted that at least 40% of it should be
achieved with electricity or hydrogen from renewable sources, or
second-generation biofuels from waste.
That would leave just 6% coming from traditional biofuels made
from grains and other food stocks, which have been criticized for
pushing up food prices.
The committee's decision will likely serve as parliament's position
in negotiations with the 27 E.U. member states later this year or in
early 2009 on the final shape of the legislation.

VeraSun begins production at Iowa ethanol facility
BROOKINGS, SOUTH DAKOTA, U.S. - VeraSun Energy Corp.
announced the startup of its 110- million-gallon-per-year ethanol
biorefinery located near Hartley, Iowa, U.S. on Aug. 14. The addition of the Hartley production facility increases the company's
annual production capacity to more than 1.3 billion gallons.
Construction on the facility began in November 2006. The
biorefinery will annually process approximately 39 million bushels of corn and produce about 350,000 tons of distillers grains for
livestock feed in addition to employing approximately 55 workers, the company said.
Also in August, VeraSun announced its financial results for the
second quarter ended June 30. Net income increased to $24 million, or 15¢ per diluted share, as compared to $15 million for
the same quarter in 2007. Total revenues increased to $1.015
billion, a 499% increase over $170 million for the same quarter
last year.
The increase in total revenues was primarily the result of a
420.6% increase in ethanol volume sold and an increase in average ethanol prices of 38¢ per gallon, or 17.1%, compared to 2007,
the company said. For the quarter, the company sold 329.9 million

gallons of ethanol, which included 83.4 million gallons of ethanol
that were purchased from others and resold to customers.
Ethanol production increased by 175 million gallons, or 214.8%,
to 256.5 million gallons, compared with the three months ended
June 30, 2007, as a result of the added capacity from its Linden,
Indiana, U.S., facility in August 2007, the Albion, Nebraska, U.S.,
facility in October 2007, the Bloomingburg, Ohio, U.S., facility in
March 2008 and the US BioEnergy acquisition on April 1, 2008.
Net sales from ethanol increased $710.4 million, or 499.4%,
to $852.7 million for the quarter, compared with $142.3 million
for the same quarter in 2007. Of the increase, $588.2 million was
driven by additional volumes of ethanol sold. Higher ethanol
prices contributed $122.2 million of the increased revenue. The
average price of ethanol sold was $2.59 per gallon for the quarter,
compared to $2.21 per gallon for the same quarter last year.
The company said dried distiller's grains with solubles (DDGS)
sales increased 431% to $120 million, as compared to $23 million
for the same quarter in 2007. Net sales from DDGS increased
431% to $119.5 million for the quarter, compared with $22.5 million for the same quarter last year.

October 2008 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

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World Grain - October 2008

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