Ethanol Credits May Ease Pressure on U.S. Corn, IEA Says
by Nariman Gizitdinov (Bloomberg) Ethanol credits held by U.S. refiners may help reduce demand for the blending fuel and ease pressure on rising prices of corn, from which ethanol is made, the International Energy Agency said.
The credits, known as Renewable Identification Numbers or RINs, were given out when refiners use more than the required quantity of ethanol mandated by the Renewable Fuels Standard, and can be used to avoid purchases now. About 2.5 billion credits have been banked by refiners in recent years, according to the Renewable Fuels Association trade group, the IEA said.
The RIN credits “provide some flexibility for blenders to meet the 2012 RFS requirements despite the projected lower ethanol output, and could help reduce some of the pressure on corn prices,” the Paris-based IEA said in a monthly report today (August 10, 2012). READ MORE and MORE (The Hill/E2Wire) and MORE (DomesticFuel.com)
