US ethanol plants suspended
The company has discontinued output at its 100 million gallon a year plants in Bloomingburg, Ohio, Albion, Nebraska, and Linden, Indiana.
Corn rose 58% from January to July last year before falling to 13% from year to year levels on 9 January.
VeraSun filed for bankruptcy protection in October, blaming volatile corn prices.
'The company decided this is the best course of action while the crush margin is impaired and while interim financing and other contracts are worked through and finalised,’ VeraSun spokesman Mike Lockrem says.
Pacific Ethanol has also temporarily suspended production at its ethanol manufacturing plant in Madera in California.
The company cited extended unfavourable market conditions for producing ethanol as the cause.
The plant has a production capacity of up to 40 million gallons a year.
The company says it will continue serving its ethanol companies with production from its other plants and suppliers of its Kinergy Marketing subsidiary.
The company has plants in Oregon, Idaho, and a 42% interest in the Front Range Energy ethanol plant in Windsor, Colorado. Its total production capacity is 220 gallons, and the company has a goal of increasing that to 420 million gallons by next year.
In December, AltraBiofuels shut production at its plants in Indiana and Ohio.