Mossi & Ghisolf to build 66 Mgy ethanol plant in Piedmont, Italy

In Italy, Mossi & Ghisolf will construct a 66 Mgy ethanol plant in Piedmont, and convert it to cellulosic feedstocks in the long run. Mossi & Ghisolf said the $148 million plant would be operational in 2009, and converted to cellulosic ethanol in a second, $177 million upgrade.

Italy has been best known to date as a biodiesel producer. However, national biodiesel production was projected to fall 40 percent for 2007 compared to 2006, to to 450,000 tons. Production was 750,000 tons in 2006. Producers blamed regulatory changes for the drop, but said that Italy would increase capacity by 750,000 tons through 2009.

Italy’s antitrust agency is currently conducting an investigation into illegal price fixing in Italy’s pasta industry. Pasta makers have raised prices by 60 percent this year, citing the 60 percent increase in worldwide wheat prices and the fact that 60 percent of the cost of pasta is wheat.

“Yes, the price of wheat has risen, but it has simply gone back to 1985 levels,” Rosario Trefiletti, president of the Federconsumatori consumers’ association told CNN. “So who’s been profiting from low prices these past 20 years?”

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