Ethanol Blog

Sales of distillers grains are helping the ethanol industry in South Dakota bring its huge benefit to the economy, according to an article by Ethanol Producer (http://bit.ly/…).

A new study released by the South Dakota Ethanol Producers Association stated the ethanol industry in South Dakota had more than $3.8 billion overall impact on the state's economy, a huge increase from the $2 billion in 2004. That figure includes the direct value of the ethanol produced, the indirect effect as a result of purchase by the industry and the increase in household spending resulting from the increased economic activity in the state.

Besides each local plant employing workers, they produce more than 3 million tons of dried distillers grains. In fact, the state's ethanol industry has grown more than 441% in sales of ethanol and DDG since 2004, worth an estimated $2.983 billion.

The SDEPA is a non-profit trade group that represents 15 South Dakota ethanol plants that have a combined capacity of 1 billion gallons of ethanol production and 3.2 million tons of DDG.

Cheryl Anderson can be reached at Cheryl.anderson@telventdtn.com.

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