Originally published on January 4, 2021 10:13 am
At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, ethanol producers feared the worst: a world indefinitely stuck at home. As Americans hunkered down for lockdowns, gasoline demand across the country plummeted.
Ethanol industry leaders issued warnings that the financial repercussions of widespread lockdowns could be significant to plants across the country. They later reported half of the nation’s facilities were forced to shut down.
Most ethanol plants have since reopened, and losses so far are lower than initially feared. But the sector’s slow recovery has some questioning if it’s in the U.S. ethanol industry’s best interest to continue making as much fuel as before the pandemic.