Story provided by the American Coalition for Ethanol
The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) and Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) are hosting a tour in conjunction with the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) in Iowa this week to show Mexican retailers the opportunities for sourcing, marketing, and retailing ethanol-blended gasoline as Mexico?s transportation sector evolves by demonstrating how ethanol blends were successfully incorporated across Iowa.
Decision makers from some of the largest Mexican retailer groups will make their way to Iowa this week for the mission, which includes tour stops that highlight each step of the ethanol supply chain from the corn field to the gas pump. The trade mission group will visit a farm, ethanol plant, fuel terminal, bulk fuel storage facility and terminal, and a handful of retail and convenience store stations. In addition to tours of these locations, Mexican marketers will get the opportunity to sit down with key representatives of the businesses and gain information they can use in their own operations in Mexico. The tour will also include meetings with a design, construction and equipment installation company for retail stations and bulk storage facilities, as well as meetings with several ethanol marketers from across the region.
?I?ve participated in eleven marketer workshops with the USGC across Mexico in the past 18 months, and interest in ethanol seems to be increasing with every event,? said Ron Lamberty, ACE Senior Vice President. ?We want these key Mexican retailers to see that contrary to the ethanol ghost stories they?ve read online, E10 is successfully sold everywhere in the U.S. As high as fuel prices are in Mexico, when marketers go to a workshop and hear they can sell a high-performing, lower-cost product like ethanol and make more money, it probably sounds too good to be true. By coming to Iowa and seeing stations using the same dispensers they use, and transport trucks and terminals like the ones they have in Mexico, it becomes ?real? for them, and can dramatically shorten the time it will take to get significant ethanol volumes moving in Mexico.?
?IRFA is privileged to host this group of influential businesses that will shape the future of Mexico?s ethanol market,? said Lucy Norton, IRFA Managing Director. ?Drawing on Iowa?s decades of experience, we look forward to sharing how expanding availability of ethanol blends throughout Mexico will result in improved air quality and lower consumer fuel costs. In turn, this emerging market will greatly benefit the U.S. ethanol industry and corn farmers.?
