Ethanol giant ADM is bullish on fuel

Company will stand fast as experts see volatile next 10 years for market

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – On a conference call back in early November, Archer Daniels Midland Chief Executive Patricia Woertz sounded like an ethanol bull on the prowl for a bargain.

With ethanol supply outstripping demand and its price falling, an analyst asked her if ADM, one of the world’s ethanol’s top producers, was on the lookout for failing competitors’ plants it could buy up cheap.


“We’re actively engaged in this market all the time, and we know where every plant location is,” Woertz said. “But it would have to be a real value and scale and fit with our network.”

A few weeks later, ethanol rival VeraSun Energy Corp. pulled the trigger on a $686 million buyout of US BioEnergy Corp. that, when it closes next month, will make VeraSun the top ethanol producer in the country.

ADM is still waiting