Officials with Green Plains Renewable Energy are rejecting a Reuters news report this week claiming the company is shutting down a pair of Iowa ethanol plants in Dickinson and Kossuth counties.
Jim Stark is Vice President of Media Relations for Green Plains.
OC……..any ethanol plants ;03
The Reuters report cited unidentified sources that two plants, in Superior and Lakota, Iowa would be closed due to low ethanol demand.
Stark says production in Superior is on hold in Dickinson County, but the plant’s 46 workers are still there.
OC…….not favorable. :08
The Lakota plant is still producing ethanol, according to Stark.
Green Plains CEO Todd Becker says ethanol futures prices have dropped to a 13-year low.
Becker puts part of the blame on RFS waivers granted to oil refineries – cutting ethanol demand.
He also cited the trade dispute with China and a lack of federal action on allowing year-round use of E15 for the decline in ethanol demand.
Green Plains owns 17 ethanol plants with a production capacity of about 1.5 billion gallons and ranks among the top five ethanol producers in the United States.
Picture of Superior plant courtesy Green Plains
Radio Iowa
