The United States’ ethanol plant fleet has produced 1.9 billion gallons of ethanol through the first quarter of 2008, according to a group of industry analysts. This outpaces last year’s production in the first quarter by 517 million gallons, or nearly 37%, Bentek Energy LLC, a market information company, said.
Average daily production through 1Q08 was approximately 21.4 million gallons per day, which compares to an average of 15.6 million gallons per day in 1Q07 and an average of 17.8 million gallons per day for all of 2007.
"Not only is the quarterly growth impressive, but it also reaffirms growth patterns in the industry that we saw going back to 2006," says Jack Weixel, BENTEK senior analyst. "If this trend continues, 2008 will be another record-setting year for U.S. ethanol production."
The U.S. has approximately 134 ethanol plants in service in 2008 compared to 68 plants five years ago in 2003. New plants scheduled to go online could push total ethanol production to over 7.7 billion gallons if performance trends in the first quarter continue through the rest of the year, Bentek said.
In related news, environmental groups urged the Inter-American Development Bank on Saturday to stop lending money to big companies piling into the booming ethanol business that some critics say is partly to blame for soaring food prices, according to a Reuters report.
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