Massive flooding in the U.S. Midwest has knocked out roughly 13% of the nation’s ethanol production capacity, as plants in Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota have been forced to shut down or scale back production following the devastation.
Reuters reports production facilities owned by large companies like Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) and Green Plains Inc. were still operating despite days of snowstorms followed by rains that sent record floods into the Farm Belt.
However, with rail lines are washed out, and corn in storage flooded, production is dropping off, sending prices spiking in markets that buy the corn-based fuel.
