Though the savings from technological improvements are significant, they tend to be small compared with fluctuations in the net cost of corn, the main ethanol feedstock. This is illustrated in table 2, which presents data on corn costs and profits from the coproduct DDGS (distiller’s dried grains with solubles) in dry-mill ethanol production from 1981-2004. Since 1981, sales of DDGS have recovered nearly half the cost of each bushel of corn used to produce ethanol, peaking in 1986, when over 66 percent of the feedstock cost was recovered this way. In recent years, the percentage of recovery has fallen because increased demand for ethanol has led to an.
