Pacific Ethanol adds sugar to the mix

 SACRAMENTO

 October 1, 2013 9:00pm 

•  Will use raw beet sugar to make ethanol

•  “We expect this purchase of sugar to significantly lower raw material costs”

Corn won’t be the only way Pacific Ethanol Inc. (NASDAQ: PEIX) of Sacramento makes its ethanol.

It says it has entered into an agreement to buy 167 million pounds of surplus raw beet sugar for use as ethanol feedstock over the next year, enough for about 12 million gallons of ethanol.

The sugar was purchased from the Commodity Credit Corporation, a division of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, through its Feedstock Flexibility Program. The purchase price represents a substantial discount to current and expected costs of delivered corn, the company says.

"We expect this purchase of sugar to significantly lower raw material costs for the Pacific Ethanol plants and give us added flexibility and diversification in our feedstock sourcing,” says Neil Koehler, the company's president and CEO. “We built these plants to accommodate different feedstocks and we are pleased to see the advantage this purchase creates for the company and its shareholders."

Pacific Ethanol operates an ethanol plant in Stockton as well as in Boardman, Ore., and Burley, Idaho. It has one idled facility in Madera.

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