Australian researcher blames Mexican tortilla prices on ethanol, says Australian governments should not impose ethanol mandates

In Australia, a researcher at CSIRO, the national science agency, has warned Australian state governments against imposing ethanol mandates. The warning followed the imposition of an E2 mandate by New South Wales, scheduled to increase to E10 in 2011. David Lamb said that mandates in the US have encouraged heavy investment in ethanol, and he attributed the food shortage in Mexico and the doubling of the price of tortillas as a consequence.

The statement on the food shortage has not been supported by other researchers. It has been widely reported that ethanol is made from yellow, or feed, corn, while Mexican tortillas are made primarily from white corn. US corn exports supply only 14% of white corn consumed in Mexico. The rest is produced domestically by Mexico, which does not sell corn to ethanol producers.

Other reports have pointed out that the culprit in Mexico is rising corn consumption. Since 1993, the Mexican population has risen by 19%, and domestic corn production has grown 18%. However, Mexican corn consumption has risen 57% in the same period.

CSIRO as an agency has also reported on biodiesel emissions. Their recent report on biodiesel confirmed that the use of B2 biodiesel made from tallow reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 1.5 percent, while the use of B20 results in a 15 percent reduction in greenhouse gases.

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