Biofuels Digest Index plunges a record 7.82 percent to 70.56 as panic defies progress

The Biofuels Digest Index™ (BDI), a basket of public biofuels stocks, plunged a record 7.82 percent to 70.56, its lowest point in 10 months,  as global equities melted and advanced biofuels were slammed.  For the day, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) plummeted 8.21 percent to $26.29, while Solazyme (SZYM) was routed 18.51 percent to $14.35.  Among other equities, KiOR (KIOR) was slammed down 15.74 percent to $10.28. Overall, declines led advances 25 to 1 for the day.

The Index is now down 19 percent in 5 trading sessions, in the wake of the US debt deal and fears of a renewed global recession. Solazyme opened trading five days ago at 23.82, and closed last night at 14.37, down 40 percent in less than a week. Kior fell from $14.31 last Wednesday to $10.28, down 30 percent, while AMRS fell from 23.76 to 19.76, down 18 percent.

Some of the losses defied gravity – Solazyme’s 18 percent plunge coming as the company announced a new agreement with Bunge to jointly finance and build a 100,000 ton plant in Brazil, while Syntroleum’s drop came as the company announced that its Dynamic Fuels plants had produced as much fuel in July as the project sold in a six month period ending in March.