A recent example of the sensitivity of agricultural biomass
projects to changes feedstock prices is the high corn
prices in the US market in the fall of 1996. This has led to a
shift in the supply for ethanol, resulting in decreased production
of ethanol from corn, an ethanol shortage in the fuel
market, and higher gasoline prices 3 (Agri News, 1996). Even
though the corn prices dropped from the high level of
0.11 $ kg -t in August 1996 to 0.08 $ kg -1 in November 1996,
this level is still more than some of the ethanol plants can
pay.