Alto Ingredients Inc (ALTO)

[Harry Winston]

This article was published today. It names Pacific Ethanol in their list of the 14 largest ethanol-producing companies.

These are the last two paragraphs of this report.

We believe that approximately 90% of the ethanol produced in the United States is made in the Midwest from corn. According to the Department of Energy, or DOE, ethanol is generally blended at a rate of 10% by volume, but is also blended at a rate of up to 85% by volume for vehicles designed to operate on 85% ethanol. The EPA has increased the allowable blend of ethanol in gasoline from 10% by volume to 15% by volume for model year 2001 and newer automobiles, pending final approvals by certain state regulatory authorities. Some retailers have begun blending at higher rates in states that have approved higher blend rates.

According to the DOE, total annual gasoline consumption in the United States is approximately 140 billion gallons and total annual ethanol consumption represented approximately 10% of this amount in 2014. The domestic ethanol industry has substantially reached this 10% blend ratio, and we believe the industry has significant potential for growth as the industry migrates to an up to 15% blend ratio, which would translate into an annual demand of up to 20 billion gallons of ethanol.

"... we believe the industry has significant potential for growth ...."