Back To The Future With Ethanol?

This has been a hot summer for ethanol. Prices have been on the march for almost all of this year's so-called "driving season", and actually edged ahead of gasoline for a bit, though gasoline is now on top again. Will this move trigger another round of the "fuel of the future" frenzy and a surge in construction and investment, or is this likely to be just another head-fake in what has been an exceptionally difficult market for investors? 

Why The Move Now?
It is often fatuous to look at a move in a commodity's price and spend a lot of time trying to explain it. Nevertheless, "often" does not mean always. In ethanol's case, it is impossible to look at the move in ethanol prices as somehow wholly separate from a major move in corn over the past year. Although corn prices slid a bit in the first half of the year, they have jumped through the summer and stand at levels not seen since 2008.

On top of that, there is a sizable tax credit to companies that blend ethanol with gasoline. That gives blenders like Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and Valero (NYSE: VLO) incentive to keep adding ethanol to the mix - even in the face of higher ethanol prices. Moreover, since the federal government has no apparent desire to lift the protectionist tax policies that punish cheaper ethanol imports from countries like Brazil (where Cosan (NYSE: CZZ) produces cheaper ethanol from sugarcane), U.S. producers do not have to worry about foreign supply soaking up the demand. (For more, see A Sweet Ethanol Deal.)
 

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