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The corn-ethanol industry has sailed through storms of controversy over its net-energy balance and its value as a gasoline oxygenate to replace methyl-tertiary-butyl-ether (MTBE). But ethanol price volatility in the last year has weakened its appeal. Now, corn ethanol has run aground on the shoals of global food shortages and rising food prices, which many blame on the diversion of corn from the food chain to fuel supply. Firms may now be building the last grain-based ethanol plants in the U.S. When the market comes back, the smart money is betting cellulosic ethanol will be king.

Sales of nutraceutical products in Eastern Europe have shot up in the past decade, as the market catches up with the rest of the world, according to an industry veteran.