Advanced BioFuels USA

by Jenna Hoffman (Farm Journal/AgWeb) Vilsack says concerns over inflated food costs due to increased E15 consumption can be put to rest — any grocery price hike is not coming from E15 because “there’s plenty of corn here.” — Corn chatter has stretched across The Hill in recent weeks, as USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack returned from Mexico following talks of trade, and  President Biden suspended the summer ban on year-round E15.

Vilsack joined AgriTalk Host Chip Flory to share why the year-round E15 announcement was an “important step” in bringing down rising costs at the pump.

“Had the President not made the decision to keep E15 available through June 1, we would have seen 2,300 stations across the country put a bag on the pump,” he says. “That access during summer months is a very good thing.”  READ MORE; includes AUDIO

‘Consumers Lose’: Biden’s Ethanol Gambit Will Send Food Prices Soaring, Critics Say (Conservative Daily News)

Jerry Gulke: Are Grain Prices Getting Too High? (Farm Journal/AgWeb)

Excerpt from Farm Journal/AgWeb: May corn was up 22¢ and December corn prices were up 19.5¢, for the week ending Thursday, April 14. May soybean prices were down 6.5¢ and November soybean prices were up 6¢. All of the wheat contracts were up this week by 15¢ to 47¢. 

The continued unrest due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is weighing on the markets.

“More and more people are saying this could drag out for months or maybe even years, depending on the success of Putin and whether he can win the war,” says Jerry Gulke, president of the Gulke Group. “I think the bottom line is we’ve disrupted the flow of grain enough to where time is running out.”

Even though farmers in Ukraine are planting some of their spring crops, he says the general perception is the world will be short some grain this year. 

…

So how high will be too high for grain prices?

“The definition of a bull market is higher and higher highs and higher and higher lows,” Gulke says. “Markets get to a point where they no longer have to go any higher because it has priced the product high enough to where demand reduction is occurring.”

A few weeks ago, he says, old-crop corn closed below the previous week’s low. 

“That gave me caution that at $8 you’re going to start curbing demand,” Gulke says. “We did hit $8 in the lead contract. When you make new highs over $8 in the old crop corn, you got to reassess what in the world is going on.”

Beyond the political and economic upheaval, Gulke adds, this year’s planting season is delayed — unlike last year. 

“We have a lot of a lot of stuff in the mix,” Gulke says. “It’s good news for farmers and bad news for suppliers and buyers. A lot of reckoning is going to have to happen in the next few weeks and months.”  READ MORE; includes AUDIO