Jinglebob
Well-known member
Allan's Blog
Is it more profitable to use corn to produce the beef in a hamburger or to produce the foam package the hamburger comes in? According to Cargill Inc, the world largest grain company, the packaging wins hands down. The company told The Wall Street Journal yesterday that at today's prices a bushel of corn is worth nearly five times its price turned into packaging polymers. This is far more than the value added by livestock or fuel. Cargill said one bushel of corn can produce enough take-out salad containers to supply a deli for a day. The corporation is currently producing nearly 150 million pounds of grain-based polymers a year and its volume has been doubling every year. A big reason for the rapidly increasing demand is the new "green" emphasis of Wal-Mart which is urging all of its food suppliers to use corn-plastic packaging. "Renewable plastics" from grain is expected to grow into a $150 billion industry in the next few years and could replace 10% of America's petroleum use. "This is the emerging business opportunity of this company," K. Scott Portney of Cargill told The Wall Street Journal.
Is it more profitable to use corn to produce the beef in a hamburger or to produce the foam package the hamburger comes in? According to Cargill Inc, the world largest grain company, the packaging wins hands down. The company told The Wall Street Journal yesterday that at today's prices a bushel of corn is worth nearly five times its price turned into packaging polymers. This is far more than the value added by livestock or fuel. Cargill said one bushel of corn can produce enough take-out salad containers to supply a deli for a day. The corporation is currently producing nearly 150 million pounds of grain-based polymers a year and its volume has been doubling every year. A big reason for the rapidly increasing demand is the new "green" emphasis of Wal-Mart which is urging all of its food suppliers to use corn-plastic packaging. "Renewable plastics" from grain is expected to grow into a $150 billion industry in the next few years and could replace 10% of America's petroleum use. "This is the emerging business opportunity of this company," K. Scott Portney of Cargill told The Wall Street Journal.