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Green Plains suing ADM, again, for ethanol market manipulation

Green Plains Inc. is renewing its legal battle against Archer Daniels Midland saying ADM manipulated the ethanol market.

The lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Nebraska says ADM conducted a scheme to illegally depress the ethanol cash spot market starting in November 2017 until 2019.

Green Plains says ADM used a three-step strategy that lowered prices at the Argo terminal in Illinois by “flooding” the terminal with ethanol to lower the price.

In August 2021, a federal court in Illinois dismissed a Green Plains lawsuit that argued the same claims. The court ruled the company did not have standing to sue under the Commodity Exchange Act.

The company says it suffered damages through lost profits, diminishment in future earning capacity, and reputational harm to its business and relationships.