Grainnet

Washington, DC--Iowa State University's Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) released in mid-May its findings on the longterm projections for the future of the U.S. biofuels sector.

The study uses two oil-price scenarios, the first of which is a "base scenario" that projects crude oil prices ranging from $55 to $60 per barrel.

With the base crude oil scenario, the CARD Study predicts U.S. ethanol production will plateau at around 15 billion gallons annually.

Under the "high-price crude oil scenario," with crude oil prices ranging from $65 to $70 per barrel, the study predicts a U.S. production of approximately 30 billion gallons annually.

The CARD Study estimates that planted wheat acreage will decline to somewhere between 42 million acres (using the high-price crude oil scenario) and 57 million acres (using the base crude oil scenario).

U.S. wheat exports are projected to decline to 1 billion bushels (under the base scenario) and to 483 million bushels (under the high-price scenario).

Projected farmgate wheat prices would range from $4.29 per bushel (base scenario) to $5.27 per bushel (high-price scenario).

The North American Millers' Association (NAMA), which joined nine other associations in funding the study, released this information in its most recent issue of NAMA News.

See Related Websites/Articles:

• Summary of Findings from NAMA's Web Site
• Complete Study

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