GMA: Cut the ethanol tariff

The spike in corn prices is keeping the heat on biofuels as the whole supply chain deals with higher food costs. One issue is the tariff on imported ethanol. Here the GMA stakes out a position that the tariff should decline in concert the 45-cent credit to blenders mandated in the new farm bill. From GMA:


(Washington, DC) - The Grocery Manufacturers Association today issued the following statement by Vice President for Federal Affairs Scott Faber in regard to Senator Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) and Senator Judd Gregg’s (R-NH) introduction of legislation intended to reduce the tariff on imported ethanol. Co-sponsored by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Wayne Allard (R-CO), and Susan Collins (R-ME) the bill would reduce the 54-cent ethanol tariff on imported sugar-based ethanol from Brazil to 45 cents, matching the 45-cent tax credit to blenders as mandated by the new Farm Bill.

“This week in Rome, there was broad agreement that U.S. food-to-fuel mandates and subsidies have greatly contributed to distortions in the world grain market and have led to skyrocketing food prices here and around the globe. We applaud Senators Feinstein, Gregg, Cantwell, Allard and Collins for taking another step in the right direction by proposing the reconsideration of the tariff on imported ethanol. However, the current food crisis will not be solved by incremental change alone; urgent Congressional action is needed to examine the full economic and environmental impacts of these food-to-fuel taxes and subsidies immediately.”