International Trade committee  Compared to the U.S., yes, but how long will it be until the U.S. gets a free trade agreement?

International Trade committee  I think it's important. It gives us a couple of years' head start.

International Trade committee  That's a great question. You look at that and you realize that we're importing a third of our demand. What can we do about it? You have to keep in mind that there are a couple of factors here. Our trade between Canada and the United States and the ethanol industry is north-sout

International Trade committee  Absolutely correct, but it is a global market. We have to be cognizant of that. Investment decisions need to be made keeping in mind what's going on globally.

International Trade committee  You're absolutely right. Another co-product of the ethanol industry is animal feed. Canada for years had been the number two importer of distillers grains, which is the animal feed component of that, but has now slipped to position number four. All those imports were in western C

International Trade committee  When I talk about speciality alcohols, it's a host of things. I like to break down our industry by saying that we make three specific products: we make fuel ethanol for the automobile industry and we make industrial and beverage grade alcohols. As the name implies, industrial a

International Trade committee  You're perfectly correct, as I stated, that Canada is a net importer of ethanol. The only question would be who would benefit more from this. You have to look at the economy as a scale and the cost of production. We as Canadians are more cost-effective producers than the European

International Trade committee  Yes, our cost of production is lower in Canada than it is in Europe, more so than to offset that any transportation dealt a difference between the two countries.

International Trade committee  Corn is our number one cost of production, our number one feed cost. It represents anywhere from 80% to 85% of the cost of production, depending on the price of corn that year.

International Trade committee  It absolutely is. For every one unit of corn you bring into the plant, you bring in one-third by weight ethanol, one-third by weight animal feed, and one-third by weight CO2.

International Trade committee  We do. Our plants are strategically located in southwestern Ontario, one south of Ottawa, and one on the south shore in Varennes, close to corn country, close to the ethanol demand, and where there is CO2 demand as well.

International Trade committee  That's correct. In our industry, the potential would be ethanol. Having said that, it is a global market. We have to look at what's going on in the world and not just between Canada and Europe. Our biggest trading partner, the U.S., is also the largest producer of ethanol in the

International Trade committee  Mr. Chairman, on behalf of GreenField Speciality Alcohols, thank you for the opportunity to present our views on the Canada-EU comprehensive economic and trade agreement. Let me begin by telling you a bit about GreenField. We are the leading specialty alcohol producer in Canada