Rising Soybean Prices Idle Delaware Biodiesel Plant
The high cost of soybeans, brought on by the popularity of biodiesel, has forced another biodiesel plant to stop operations while waiting for prices to subside.
This story in the Salisbury (MD) Daily Times says the Mid-Atlantic Biodiesel plant in Clayton, Delaware has had to quit producing biodiesel:
The Mid-Atlantic Biodiesel facility has the capacity to refine up to 6 million gallons of biodiesel fuel per year. The plant opened in September 2006, but the rising price of soybean oil forced the plant to halt production this spring .
The plant began production with nearly $1 million in state and federal grants and a $5 million loan from the Delaware Energy Office. Company president Martin Ross says the company has kept its loan payments up-to-date.
Ross says soybean oil is currently priced too high to make biodiesel production profitable.
This news comes just about a month after an Evansville, Wisconsin biodiesel plant had to suspend operations because of high soybean prices (see my November 17th post “The Vicious Cycle of Irony”).
1 Comment »
Biofuelsimon
It looks like one thought to do the sums if the price of feedstock increased. Which doesn’t cover either the companies or the local lenders in glory. Biofuels are a more than a warm cosy glow that win local law makers votes. They are products sold in markets and markets will have their way.
If there is a bright spot in this (and it is pretty dim) , by funding the plant’s construction the local authorities will have stimulated the local economy.
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