UPDATE : US Ethanol producers and flooding in Iowa and US$8 a bushel corn

Earth2tech provides a handy chart of the recent performance of ethanol refiners shares , with commentary on the way rains and subsequent floods have hit the mid west... and Gormless Gordon says the world needs to build 1,000 nuclear power stations - The Prime Minister (whose reach doesn't extend to controlling his back benchers) called for a "new global approach on oil and energy" - about 30 reactors open every year for the next 30 to 40 years ..er.. apparently - currently 439 operating . (Scotsman)

Mr Driscoll (?) of Citigroup and other analysts have woken to the broken dreams of ethanol refiners.

He says , without naming them, that 5 ethanol refiners have been shutdown as costs to run the plants are far outweighing profits. He predicts BioFuel will report a 2008 loss of 18 cents a share, compared with an earlier breakeven estimate.

The Denver-based Biofuel which went public last summer, plans to start running its first 2 ethanol plants in Nebraska and Minnesota by the end of this month, he said. The corn will be supplied by agriculture giant Cargill Inc.

BB&T analyst Heather Jones, claims that Vera Sun has no corn hedges and much of its corn is bought from Iowa farmers. Iowa has shouldered the brunt of the flooding. ( see pic.)
The Chicago Board of Trade July Corn contract closed at US$7.09 last night.

Wallace Tyner professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University is predicting US$8 a bushel for corn but Douglas Tiffany, a research fellow at the University of Minnesota ( top researcher on biomass ethanol generation) , estimates that with oil prices above $130 a gallon, at least some ethanol producers could afford to pay as much as $9.50 a bushel for corn.

Click to enlarge picture/graph

UPDATE 10.00pm BST Iowa hospital, residents evacuate as floodwaters rise AP
UPDATE Saturday