Pork industry fights ethanol blend increase

Ethanol Producer Magazine November 2009
By Craig A. Johnson
Report posted Oct. 28, 2009, at 4:18 p.m. CST

The U.S. pork industry is calling for Congress to study the effects of the increase in the ethanol blend limit to E15, according to the National Pork Producers Council. The group feels that the combination of subsidies for the ethanol industry and tariffs on imported ethanol are forcing pork producers to compete unfairly for grain.

That the pork industry is no fan of ethanol is nothing new. For several years, pork producers have been dealing with declining profitability due to stable demand, increases in production and increases in the cost of corn and soy meal in the form of dried distillers grains.

According to NPPC spokesman Dave Warner, “For pork producers, you can see the relationship directly. Sixty to 70 percent of the cost of raising a pig is feed grain. That cost has gone up. You can’t pass that cost onto a consumer if there is not a demand.”

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