ADM accused for misconduct and lack of safety inspections following explosion that injured US worker
Archer-Daniels-Midland Co intentionally failed to test and maintain safety systems on its grain equipment for years, which contributed to an explosion that immolated a worker and put him in a coma last year, according to a lawsuit filed against the company. The explosion is part of a series of safety incidents that have occurred at ADM's facilities in Decatur (Illinois), the North American headquarters of this global grain trader.
Big Corn, Big Oil Square off in White House Biofuels Meeting
U.S. President Donald Trump gathered with senators and Cabinet officials on Tuesday to discuss ways to lower the cost of the nation’s biofuels policy to refiners, a meeting pitting Big Corn against Big Oil. The meeting reflects rising concern in the White House over the current state of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), a law requiring refiners to mix biofuels such as corn-based ethanol into their fuel…
Argentine Biodiesel Industry: U.S. Duties Will Halt Exports
Argentine biodiesel exports will be priced out of the U.S. market, its leading industry body said, after Washington decided on Tuesday to impose steep duties on imports that it said were unfairly subsidized. The countervailing duties on soy-based Argentina biodiesel could be as much as 64.17 percent, according to a statement from the U.S. Commerce Department.
U.S. Ethanol Makers Ease Away From Fuel
A U.S. glut of fuel-grade ethanol has major producers, including Green Plains Inc and industry pioneer Archer Daniels Midland Co, pursuing other markets and idling excess capacity in an effort to rebuild sagging margins. ADM and Green Plains both said on Tuesday they are converting fuel-ethanol capacity into beverage and industrial alcohol production, as well as idling some mills.
U.S. Ethanol Production Robust as Policy Clouds Loom
U.S. ethanol producers pumped out the biofuel at a record pace last week, but higher output belies growing concern in the industry that policy changes in the United States and China could upend demand for their product. The ethanol industry in the United States has grown dramatically over the last decade as the biofuel volumes Washington required oil firms to blend into gasoline and diesel rose toward targets set by Congress in 2007.
Investors Turn Bullish on US Ethanol Shares
After a weak start in 2016, investors are rediscovering shares of biofuels companies that make ethanol, a grain alcohol that can be used as fuel. Demand and profit margins are up, regulators are helping the industry, and consumers are embracing ethanol for new uses, including on commercial flights. Shares of Green Plains Inc are up about 30 percent since mid-May, while Pacific Ethanol is up about 38 percent.
Green Plains Buys Idled Ethanol Plant in Virginia
Green Plains Inc has paid $18.25 million for the sole ethanol plant in Virginia, it said on Monday, the latest in a string of consolidations as vast supplies and low crude oil prices squeeze industry profits. Green Plains said it planned to spend another $6 million to $7 million for a corn oil extractor and other improvements at the plant, whose annual capacity is 62 million gallons.
EU Extends Import Duties on U.S. Biodiesel to 2020
The European Union is extending anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties imposed on U.S. biodiesel imports for a further five years, until September 2020, maintaining its defence against trade in the renewable fuel source. The bloc set the duties in 2009 on a number of U.S. producers of biodiesel, including Archer Daniels Midland Co and Cargill Inc, effectively bringing to a halt $1 billion in annual trade.
EU Extends Import Duties on U.S. Biodiesel to 2020
The European Union is extending anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties imposed on U.S. biodiesel imports for a further five years, until September 2020, maintaining its defence against trade in the renewable fuel source. The bloc set the duties in 2009 on a number of U.S. producers of biodiesel, including Archer Daniels Midland Co and Cargill Inc, effectively bringing to a halt $1 billion in annual trade.
U.S. Ethanol Sputters on Cheap Gas
The closure of two ethanol plants this week and proposed sale of a third highlight the growing challenges faced by small producers located far from cheap feedstock supplies in the U.S. Corn Belt, as demand for alternative fuels heads lower. Profit margins are shrinking across the U.S. ethanol industry, which produces about 15 billion gallons a year of the biofuel mainly from corn, as oil prices have sunk to the lowest in 6-1/2 years.
Big Oil, Corn Blitz EPA on Biofuels Plan
U.S. farmers, biofuel makers, and oil companies have mounted last-ditch efforts to push regulators to overhaul a controversial plan for biofuel use, homing in on the price Americans pay for gasoline mixed with such fuels as ethanol. In thousands of filings ahead of a midnight deadline for comment on the plan, industry groups and companies like Archer Daniels…
Valero Dips toes into Ethanol Export Market
Valero Energy Corp, one of the biggest U.S. oil refiners, is preparing to sell ethanol for export for the first time, the company said, betting on the $2 billion overseas market as U.S. demand remains plagued by political uncertainty. The San Antonio-based oil refiner, the third-largest U.S. ethanol producer, has recently been offering export-grade ethanol to shippers and leasing tank space for it at St.
EPA Faces U.S. Senate Biofuels Grilling
U.S. lawmakers will grill the nation's environmental regulator over its handling of a controversial renewable fuels program at a hearing on Thursday, the first since new biofuels targets provoked a furor among corn farmers and oil refiners. The much-anticipated hearing by the Senate subcommittee on regulatory affairs and federal management will likely increase…
ADM Suspends German Diodiesel Output
U.S. agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland Co. is temporarily halting production at its biodiesel plant in Leer in Germany because of uncertainty about the future of biodiesel in the country, it said on Tuesday. The company said it would reassess biodiesel market requirements in the third quarter of this year. Enthusiasm for biofuels in Germany and other European Union countries has waned…
ADM to Sell 50% Stake in Brazil Export Terminal to Glencore
U.S. agribusiness company Archer Daniels Midland Co has agreed to sell a 50-percent stake in its Barcarena grain export terminal in northern Brazil to commodities trader Glencore PLC, the company said during an analyst call on Tuesday. The companies are planning to increase the terminal's annual capacity to 6 million tonnes, from the current 1.5 million tonnes…
Nations Wary of Extracting Carbon from Air to Fix Climate
Many nations want a draft U.N. report to tone down prospects for sucking greenhouse gases from the air to help fix global warming, reckoning the technologies are risky, documents seen by Reuters show. Government officials and scientists are meeting in Berlin this week to edit the report, which says time is running out to keep warming below an agreed ceiling of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial times.
