I've often grumbled about ethanol people spending too much time talking about ethanol to other ethanol people, and not nearly enough time talking to the people who move the needle—the people who actually sell our product to consumers—fuel wholesalers and retailers. We’ve done that since the market development program was created at ACE, and we’re excited Ben Rhodes has joined the ACE team to help expand those efforts.
Adding Ben to our market development efforts isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity because the opportunity in front of us right now is rare—and urgent. Not exactly “unprecedented.” It’s similar to 2007 to 2010, when ethanol went nationwide and from 5 billion to 13 billion. We’ve consistently told retailers to “do the math” on offering higher ethanol blends, and many of them have, when the numbers were…fine. Not today. Today's math smacks you upside the head.
Gasoline prices skyrocketed starting in February of this year, while ethanol prices remained steady. Ethanol rack prices have been within 20 cents on either side of $2 a gallon, and with RINs trading in a similar range, the net price of ethanol for independent wholesalers has been between 20 cents and getting paid 20 cents to take it from the terminal. Prior to 2026, E15 at the rack was typically a few cents less than regular E10. Today it’s 15 to 20 cents per gallon less. And E85 is under a dollar. Often well under.
And it’s not a “blip.” Refineries damaged in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and in the Iran war, mean gasoline supply is going to be tight for some time—a year to 18 months or more before the differential narrows. Retailers who move now get a pricing advantage their competitors across the street can’t match, and their customers get a break at the pump. Everybody wins except the guy clinging to E10 and “clear” unleaded.
But “the math” doesn’t do retailers any good if they don’t know about it. Sixty percent of stations are still single-store or small-chain owned. Those owners are busy running a store, not staring at rack prices and RIN values on a screen. They need somebody to show up—at trade shows, workshops, at their counters, or even on a website featuring other retailers just like them—to show them how to calculate the opportunity and show them what they’re leaving on the table.
One more person talking to retailers isn’t a small thing. It’s the difference between “we ought to reach more station owners” and “here’s what E15 and E85 can do for your business.” And now ACE can do twice as much of that.
