Are oil companies trying to kill ethanol?

[TheFarseer]

Ethanol (E-10) is 6 cents more than regular and has been for a month or two now DESPITE the fact that farmers now pay a small fee to sell corn "to promote ethanol" and our tax dollars go to subsidize it also. I've heard oil companies are buying up ethanol on the board of trade and driving up the price. Most people I know just buy what's cheaper and those who think about it are pissed off that their tax dollars go to something that's not economical to buy for themselves. Are oil companies trying to give ethanol a bad name and get people to stop buying it even if prices got back to even or ethanol being cheaper as it should be? Thoughts?

p.s. has anyone else noticed how when you put something on the open market, the price goes out of sight (see also Natural Gas)?

[xmas74]

1. In Missouri it's an average of 50 cents cheaper

than regular.

Right now gas in my town is 2.85 and ethanol is 2.15.

[TheFarseer]

3. you're sure you're not talking about E-85?

E-85 is 2.44 here, I believe. E-10 is more expensive. Up until a few months ago, E-10 was always cheaper by around 10 cents.

[sandnsea]

2. They should remove it from the exchange

I do not know why we allow fuel to be traded in the first place, makes no sense at all. Food shouldn't be either. This is part of the equation that gets ignored when people try to run that it's all production and consumption that drives prices. I never hear any of our brillaint economists tell people how much trading adds to the prices.

[NickB79]

4. The massive drought may have something to do with it

Corn prices are going up, up, up, as supply disruptions are feared this fall.

Any plan to tie our energy independence to a crop so susceptible to global warming and drought is a bad, bad idea.