Ethanol Delivery Halt Would Raise Gas Prices
A halt to rail shipments of ethanol due to a railroad strike would threaten to reverse the recent slide in U.S. gasoline pump prices from a record high. “Almost all ethanol is moved via rail and it is produced in the Midwest,” noted Debnil Chowdhury of S&P Global Commodity Insights. “There is no easy substitute for rail and the U.S. government will have to make decisions around blend targets if ethanol movement to demand centers are constrained due to a strike.” Ethanol currently accounts for around 10% of U.S. gasoline volume, and prices for the commodity have already been raised at several marketplaces with sellers facing interruptions.