Ethanol Reduction The ethanol industry has been under attack on Capitol Hill and now it is reported that U.S. EPA will propose cutting the corn ethanol blend mandate for 2014 by 800 million gallons (-6 percent) below this year's mandate and 1.4 billion gallons (-10 percent) below the renewable fuel standard (RFS) target level for next year. The lower mandate responds to concerns about the blend wall. That would return a little more than 500 million bushels (1.3 MMT) of corn to the balance sheet. The cellulosic target for 2014 is also reportedly proposed to be reduced to 2.21 billion gallons of ethanol equivalent. This will slow both imports of Brazilian sugarcane ethanol plus domestic biodiesel production and imports. Value of USDA Re...