Ashton, Iowa — POET Biorefining announced Tuesday it will idle production at its bioprocessing facility in Ashton, as well as facilities in Chancellor, S.D., and Coon Rapids, Iowa, and delay the start-up of its new plant in Shelbyville, Ind., as producers across the United States continue to grapple with the economic fallout of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. On an annualized basis, these operational changes are expected to reduce corn demand by 110 million bushels, freezing 330 million gallons of ethanol production across the four facilities. POET has also significantly slowed production at other facilities, further decreasing corn demand.
“Across the board, biofuel producers and our partners in the farm community face an unprecedented challenge,” said POET Founder and CEO Jeff Broin. “From day one of this crisis, we have placed the highest priority on protecting the health and welfare of our workers, partners and farm suppliers. At the same time, we are working hard to ensure that every biorefinery remains well-positioned to support a strong and swift recovery once daily life returns to normal. That means responding dynamically to shifting conditions and optimizing production, market by market, as the situation evolves over the next few months.
Broin says, “Unfortunately, plummeting fuel demand amid the coronavirus pandemic has overwhelmed markets already suffering from continued trade barriers, a foreign price war over oil and regulatory uncertainty here at home. In South Dakota, the crisis has been compounded by one of the worst growing seasons in memory. As a result, POET is taking the difficult step of idling production at our biorefineries in Ashton, Chancellor, and Coon Rapids and delaying the start-up of Shelbyville.”
Ethanol producers across the country are slashing production amid the ongoing crisis. Nationally, experts predict a decline in fuel demand of up to 55 percent. If these conditions persist, it will result in an annualized drop in ethanol demand of up to eight billion gallons or 2.7 billion bushels of corn.
Locally, Sheldon Development Director Curt Strouth says the concern is for the affected workers.
(As above) “Our thoughts and prayers obviously always go out with those affected and and that would be the employees themselves and we hope everything works out in everybody’s favor.”
Strouth says you always hate to hear news like this.
(As above) “You always hate to hear these stories and you know we continue prayers go out for everybody that’s affected and we’ll do whatever we can here at a local level help support all those involved and we’ll go from there.”
The idling of the plant at Ashton, and the furlough of its employees, is scheduled to take place on May 8th, according to POET officials.
