Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Ethanol Reaches Five-Week High as Lawmakers Extend Tax Credit

From Bloomberg.com:

    Ethanol futures in Chicago climbed to a five-week high on speculation demand for the fuel will grow after Congress last week passed an $858 billion tax-cut plan including provisions that support the biofuel industry.

    The grain-based additive rose after lawmakers extended a 45-cent incentive to refiners for each gallon of the fuel blended with gasoline and renewed a 54-cent tariff on Brazilian imports. U.S. ethanol output reached a record 939,000 barrels a day in the week ended Dec. 3, government data show.

    Denatured ethanol for January delivery rose 2.6 cents, or 1.2 percent, to settle at $2.244 a gallon on the Chicago Board of Trade, the highest price since Nov. 11.

    In cash market trading, ethanol in Chicago climbed 6.5 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $2.275 a gallon and in the U.S. Gulf the additive increased 3.5 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $2.275, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

    Ethanol on the West Coast rose 8 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $2.375 a gallon, and in New York the biofuel jumped 7.5 cents, or 3.3 percent, to $2.375.

    U.S. carmakers and engine manufacturers asked an appeals court to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider its October decision allowing the sale of gasoline with 15 percent ethanol.

Continue reading at Bloomberg.com...