Today in Biofuels Opinion: “With oil trading above $72 a barrel and regular gasoline averaging $2.97 a gallon nationwide, the production of ethanol is not likely to be profitable.”

From Brent Erickson, VP of BIO: “A new report from the France-based Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) suggests biotechnology could help address the most serious challenges to world economies and societies, according to the Guelph Mercury. The organization, which helps countries around the world develop policy, says way too much global investment in biotechnology – more than 80% – has gone to health applications, such as therapeutics and diagnostics. That, it claims, is out of whack, given its prediction that three-quarters of biotechnology’s economic contributions will come from agriculture and industry. Those contributions will be reflected in the bioeconomy, which is likely to involve three elements: renewable biomass (straw, grass, forest waste, etc.) and efficient bioprocesses for sustainable production, advanced knowledge of genes and complex cell processes to develop new products and integrated biotechnology knowledge and applications across sectors.” A copy of the OECD report is here.

From WND.com: “The CBO concluded, “when the price of gasoline is more than 90 percent of the price of a bushel of corn, it is profitable to produce ethanol.” With corn currently trading at about $4.19 a bushel, gasoline would have to cost about $3.77 a gallon for the production of ethanol to be profitable, even with generous government subsidies and rigorous government mandates for increasing the percentage of ethanol that needs to be blended into gasoline. With oil trading above $72 a barrel and regular gasoline averaging $2.97 a gallon nationwide, the production of ethanol is not likely to be profitable.”

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