Today in Biofuels Opinion: “Until Brazil takes full advantage of its ability to export ethanol duty-free, I don’t see why we should give Brazilian ethanol more generous treatment.”

Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa: “Besides the fact that the ethanol tariff is perfectly in line with WTO obligations…Brazil has yet to even take advantage of exporting ethanol duty-free to the United States through the Caribbean Basin Initiative. Until Brazil takes full advantage of its ability to export ethanol duty-free, I don’t see why we should give Brazilian ethanol more generous treatment.” [editors note, although up to 7 percent of the US ethanol market can enter duty-free from CBI nations, the cap has never been reached in its 18-year history]

Bill Bevans, Nebraska Turkey Growers Cooperative: “The [ethanol mandate] has just been totally overdone, and the impact on the price of corn is literally destroying our industry and my business. We don’t believe it’s long-term good policy to mandate demand. We think demand should be consumer generated and not government generated.”

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