A full waiver of the 2013 Renewable Fuels Standard requirement would reduce the price of corn by more than $2 per bushel, according to economic data cited in comments submitted Thursday by the National Chicken Council to the Environmental Protection Agency in support of a one-year waiver of the RFS.
NCC also delivered nearly 10,000 individual comments from other industry members, almost three quarters of which came from chicken farmers.
"Our comments prove in detail that the RFS is causing severe economic harm to the U.S. economy, and the 2013 requirement must be waived in full," said NCC President Mike Brown.
NCC files comments in support of RFS waiver; delivers 10,000 others from chicken industry
"Today's corn crop report released by USDA verifies that this harvest will mark the lowest production since 2006. Despite 13% less corn than last year to go around, it is irresponsible to divert more than 40% of it to use as a second-rate motor fuel."
The comments cite an August 2012 Purdue report that evaluated how an EPA waiver of the ethanol mandate would affect the corn and ethanol markets. Calculations from their model, NCC says, found that reducing the amount of ethanol blended into gasoline in 2013 would reduce corn prices by $2 per bushel.
NCC comments say such a significant reduction could affect consumers, livestock producers and the feed industry, and lead to an approximate decrease of 2.4% in retail food prices.
The $2 decrease is equivalent to a decrease of $71.43 per ton of corn, which results in feed costs that are $32.14 to 47.86 lower per ton, NCC calculates. The broiler industry uses 1.25 billion bushels of corn each year. Savings of $2 per bushel of corn would amount to $2.5 billion in annual savings to the chicken industry.