Floods send corn, ethanol soaring

Corn futures rose to another record high and ethanol prices surged to a two-year high on Friday as storms lashing the US Midwest raised the specter of a crop that will be too small to satisfy demand for food, feed and biofuel.

The seventh straight surge in corn prices further squeezed margins for US ethanol producers, who are scaling back unprofitable operations and also face flooding at distilleries that turn corn from nearby farms into the biofuel.

Flood waters have inundated fields throughout the corn belt. Especially worrisome for the crop, were cresting rivers in Iowa and Illinois, the top two growing states.

Sydney Morning Herald