Ethanol: Seek & Find

Corn is everywhere, and its impact felt in practically everything. It's so plentiful in the U.S. — 90 million planted acres this year – that it's used in the production of thousands of products, from plastics and paint to crayons and soap. And because as much as half of the nation's corn crop could soon be devoted to the production of ethanol fuel, corn prices are expected to rise dramatically, potentially pushing up the cost of numerous products, including packaged snacks and other consumer goods. With corn taking an increasing share of the planting space, prices may also rise for competing grains. That may affect not just the cost of fruits and vegetables, but even paper and cotton-based clothing. Here's a quick summary of some key product areas where growing demand for ethanol could fuel rising costs.

Download the Seek & Find page to see items whose price may rise as more corn is turned into ethanol. Then check the key to see how you faired.

A single bushel of corn can yield 33 pounds of sweetener of the type used as a cheaper alternative to sugar and poured freely into soft drinks and candy. As demand grows for ethanol, there is less corn left for other uses, driving up its cost as an input. Coca-Cola has already said that it has faced cost increases for corn and high fructose corn syrup.

Given that corn is regularly used in livestock and poultry feed, bacon, eggs and milk could see prices bumped up. Enjoy hamburgers? They could grow more costly. As many as a quarter of the products in a typical grocery store use corn in some way, so supermarket prices may well be impacted by ethanol demand. Prices for bread, milk and beef have already risen nationwide in 2007.

Now that corn production has surpassed 10 billion bushels annually, competing crops, including rice and wheat, face price hikes as a result of substitution among grains. The U.S. corn crop accounts for about 40 percent of the global corn harvest, according to the Earth Policy Institute, and ethanol plants are consuming an ever-greater share. Japan may be particularly hard hit, given that it imports about 16 million tons of corn.

Consumers often don't realize that products like diapers, shampoo, paint and crayons rely on corn. Crayons, for instance, use corn-based adhesives, while shampoos use dextrose. Because these products employ numerous ingredients, rising corn costs may have limited impact, assuming manufacturers can find adequate substitutes or can minimize their corn usage.