Corn at Year-low as Ethanol's Crush Spread Improves
Corn prices settled below the $4 mark today for the first time since last October. December corn, the front-month contract, fell 23 1/4 cents to $3.88 per bushel. In the past month, corn prices have fallen $1.74 (31%) due to the rapid decline in both crude oil prices and the stock market. Luckily for U.S. ethanol producers, ethanol prices haven't been hit as badly as ethanol's crush spread has improved:
(what do I mean by ethanol's crush spread?)
| Date | Price of Ethanol | Price of Corn | Crush Spread |
| 10/15/08 | $1.702 | $3.88 | $.88 |
| 09/15/08 | $2.22 | $5.62 | $.596 |
| 08/08/08 | $2.04 | $4.98 | $.732 |
| 06/27/08 | $2.917 | $7.65 | $.5176 |
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