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Dinneen says waivers to blame for low ethanol prices

Bob Dinneen with the Renewable Fuels Association blames oil refinery exemptions for low ethanol prices. 

Dinneen, the former CEO and now senior strategic advisor for RFA, says the exemptions destroyed more than 1.7 billion gallons of ethanol demand.

“We had to buy back market share, so in order to maintain some level of market presence prices began to plummet. And they haven’t really recovered.”

University of Illinois ag economist Scott Irwin claims overproduction, not refinery exemptions, has driven the price of ethanol to historic lows.

Dinneen tells Brownfield Irwin has unintentionally proven the EPA hardship waivers are to blame.

“We’ve over-produced because demand was destructed. But we’re just not a country where you can just back off on production a little bit. That’s just not the way the world works.”

Dinneen says despite the financial trough, producers remain optimistic market share will continue to grow because ethanol provides consumers a high quality, high-octane low-priced fuel.

Brownfield spoke to Dinneen at the National Ethanol Conference in Orlando Monday.