Ethanol use raised food prices 0.5% to 0.8%, or 10-15% of total yearly rise, congressional study finds

The increased use of ethanol was responsible for 10 to 15 percent of the increase in food prices for the year ending April 2008, adding 0.5 to 0.8 percent to the total retail cost of food, the Congressional Budget Office said in a study release yesterday. It says that high energy costs are responsible for much more of the increase, so the rise would have been greater if ethanol had not replaced traditional motor fuels, reports Charles Abbott for Reuters.

The report, "The Impact of Ethanol Use on Food Prices and Greenhouse-Gas Emissions," serves as a good resource for journalists interested in covering the ethanol industry and the pending decision on whether corn-based ethanol meets the Renewable Fuels Standard because it leads to clearing of woodland for cropland, mainly in other countries. (Read the report)