Negative crush margins still seen unless distilleries are debt-free

In Nebraska, DTN’s “hypothetical” South Dakota-based ethanol plant that allows it to estimate crush margins for the market is still in double-negative margin territory at 23.8 cents per gallon despite a slight increase in ethanol prices matched with falling corn prices. The worst level was seen in December, but the situation hasn’t improved greatly since February when it was negative 31.9 cents. But because most ethanol plants are debt-free, without paying debt that hypothetical plant would be running at about a 3 cent per gallon margin, up from 1 cent in February.