Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) recently announced a 60% increase in its third quarter profits as strong demand for ethanol over the summer and low corn prices combined to create the best profit margins seen in years for ethanol producers. ADM president Juan Luciano states that ongoing strong ethanol sales to blenders and the possibility of increased exports will support the industry through the coming year. For the three months ending September 30, ADM’s corn processing unit saw a doubling of profits to $363 million as the company saw overall profits of $747 million – up from $476 million a year earlier. The 15% drop in crude oil prices over the past month raised questions of how the ethanol industry will do in the near future, however, the expected U.S. bumper corn crop is expected to keep corn prices very low and ADM sees the potential for increased exports of between 800 million to 1 billion gallons of ethanol in 2015 to markets such as Mexico, Canada, Asia and the Middle East. To read further about results from ADM’s grain trading and oilseed processing divisions:
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