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COVID ripple effects on biofuels subsiding

An official with one of the nation’s largest biofuel producers suggests the ripples caused by the pandemic are subsiding.

POET vice president of corporate affairs Doug Berven says it was this time last year when 50 percent of travel shut down nationwide.

“Which means that about half of the ethanol industry shut down, and that had a lot of ripple effects around the country and around the world. People don’t realize that the ethanol industry provides a tremendous amount of human-grade CO2.”

He tells Brownfield reduced ethanol production also meant fewer dried distillers grains to feed livestock and hurt corn demand.

“So the ripple effects of the ethanol industry were realized to a great degree this past year. Luckily now we’re back at about somewhere between 90 and 95 percent of what normal driving conditions are in April.”

Berven says margins aren’t great, but the ethanol industry is doing alright and he’s very optimistic going forward.