Xcelplus International, Inc. (XLPI)

[puppman]

For a time it looked like the nation's corn supply might fall short of meeting demand, and the corn industry got blamed for higher food prices, world starvation and even higher energy costs; all of which defy logic to varying degrees.



Now it is becoming evident the corn and soybean crops are larger than anticipated, export demand for corn has dropped off due to a sluggish economy, and corn prices have plunged nearly 45%. In the wake of this reality food prices should have dropped if you believe there is a connection between field corn and food, but they haven't; fertilizer costs and other inputs remain high; and although gasoline and diesel are moderating somewhat, they are falling like syrup running up hill in slow motion.



Where is the national media asking what's up? They are so focused on the bailout of our financial system they have missed a very interesting story that has incredible economic relevance and probably even longer term than the recessionary swamp we seem to be in right now.



In the first half of the year, domestic ethanol production nearly equaled oil imports from Iraq. We produced 101 million barrels of ethanol and imported 123 million barrels of Iraqi oil.



Iraq supplies about 11 percent of the oil we import from OPEC. The U.S. ethanol industry will exceed this year's congressional mandate of 9 billion gallons of renewable fuel.



Congress has mandated the country to use 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels annually by 2022. That is more than what we import now from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait combined.



The biggest reason Congress created incentives for renewable fuels such as ethanol was to reduce dependence on foreign oil -- especially from volatile regions such as the Middle East. A growing domestic industry, especially a renewable fuels industry, seems to be one big step we can take in the right direction to keep our staggering economy moving in the right direction.