Abengoa’s Rotterdam plant closure boosts margins to 6-month highs

In the UK, Platts data shows that Abengoa’s unexpected shutdown of its ethanol plant in Rotterdam has boosted crushing margins in northeast Europe to six month highs, with wheat-to-ethanol margins reaching $36.2 per cubic meter and milling-to-ethanol reaching $2.91 per cubic meter. Last week corn-to-ethanol margins hits $56.3 per cubic meter. Ethanol has in the meantime fallen less than 2% while wheat futures in Europe have fallen between 8.2% and 9.3% when the plant shut down on Dec. 13 due to safety issues. There is no anticipated re-start date at the moment.