AP
Wal-Mart Weighs Selling Ethanol-Based Fuel
Wednesday May 31, 9:22 pm ET
By Marcus Kabel, AP Business Writer
Wal-Mart Stores May Offer Ethanol Made From Corn at Its 383 U.S. Gas Stations
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. may offer ethanol made from corn at its 383 U.S. gas stations, a company spokesman said Wednesday.
Wal-Mart stressed it is not ready yet to make any announcements, but corn growers said Wal-Mart's entry into a market now mainly made up of scattered independent gas stations would be a significant boost to a budding new fuel industry.
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Ethanol made from U.S.-grown corn has become a hot topic this year as Congress, the Bush administration and American drivers look for alternative fuels to reduce dependence on foreign oil, keep fuel prices down and curb emissions blamed for global warming.
The world's largest retailer brought together a group of industry, government and academic experts on alternative fuels in Washington last week to discuss how Wal-Mart could develop a network for supplying gas stations at its stores and Sam's Clubs with E-85 fuel.
E-85 is a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.
"We are considering E-85, absolutely," Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin Gardner said.
"We are looking to continue to work with and identify strategic partners in the business community to further our efforts in the alternative fuels arena. That said, there are a lot of things we are looking at and considering and we just don't have anything to announce right now," Gardner said.
Representatives from the fuel industry, Wal-Mart suppliers and government and nongovernment experts attended the meeting.
The National Corn Growers Association was one of those attending, and its chief executive, Rock Tolman, said a decision by Wal-Mart to offer E-85 would help solve one of the emerging industry's problems: not enough availability for consumers.
More than 5 million vehicles on the road can run on the blend and car manufacturers say they are making more models that can use it. Yet the fuel is sold by just over 600 retailers across the nation, mainly independents rather than chains.
Tolman said the move would also increase competitive pressure on national chains to carry E-85.
"It would be one more significant, very big step in this whole transition toward biofuels," Tolman said.
Wal-Mart owns and operates gas stations at 375 of its nearly 570 Sam's Club locations and another eight on the grounds of Wal-Mart stores. Outside companies operate gas stations at more than 1,000 Wal-Marts nationally, but Wal-Mart cannot dictate whether they offer E-85, Gardner said. |
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Wir befinden uns derzeit inmitten eines sehr schweren Börsenumfeldes. Hiervon betroffen sind besonders die Nebenwerte aus dem Rohstoffbereich; aber auch andere Branchen und kleinere Unternehmen bleiben von dem derzeitigen Marktdruck nicht unverschont. Die Aktien aus dem Gold, Silber und Energiesektor, welche wir favorisieren, haben in den letzten Wochen zwischen 30 und 50 Prozent an Wert verloren. Dies war wirklich schmerzhaft! Die Korrektur bei den Rohstoffen setzte den gesamten Markt unter starken Druck gesetzt, was insbesondere die Nebenwerte heruntergezogen hat. Die Aktien, die es jetzt am stärksten erwischt hat, werden sich jedoch am schnellsten wieder erholen. Wir erwarten für unsere Werte keinen weiteren drastischen Kursverfall; im Gegenteil, eine Gegenreaktion kommt immer schnell und unerwartet. Der Boom bei den Rohstoffen wird auch in den kommenden Jahren anhalten und der Ausblick bleibt rosig. Die Anleger, welche jetzt in den sauren Apfel beißen mussten, werden bald wieder festen Boden unter die Füße bekommen. Wir haben vollstes Vertrauen in unsere Musterdepotwerte (Torrent, Triangle, XL Generation, Manaris, VisualMed, Euromicron, Cancom, Greenshift und Advanced Vision) und möchten unser Update mit folgender Börsenregel vom ehemaligen Börsenguru Andre Kostolany abschließen: „Sinkende Kurse gehören zur Börse. Gute Aktien erholen sich nach jedem Kursrückschlag. Sie haben also keinen Grund, die Nerven zu verlieren.“ 