Markets Wired

Commission Issues 2009 Report on U.S. Ethanol Market Concentration

The Commission has issued the “2009 Report on Ethanol Market Concentration.” This is the FTC’s fifth annual report on the state of ethanol production in the United States, as required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The report concludes that the U.S. fuel ethanol market, measured either on the basis of production capacity or on actual production, remains unconcentrated.

As of September 2009, 160 firms produced ethanol in the United States – the same number as cited in the FTC’s 2008 report. In addition, the largest ethanol producer’s share of capacity remained the same, at 11 percent of domestic ethanol production capacity, down from 16 percent in 2007, 21 percent in 2006, 26 percent in 2005, and 41 percent in 2000.

As in previous reports, FTC staff calculated market concentration for the ethanol production industry using different measures. Staff measured the market share for each producer according, first, to the producer’s production capacity and, second, to its actual production. Staff then performed separate concentration calculations using three different methods that attribute market share to: 1) the producer itself; 2) the firm that actually marketed the producer’s ethanol output; and 3) the marketing firm only when marketing the producer’s volumes pursuant to a pooling agreement.

The report, which is available on the Commission’s Web site and as a link to this press release at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2009/12/091201ethanolreport.pdf, was submitted to Congress and the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The Commission vote to issue the 2009 report, which was prepared by the staff of the Bureaus of Competition and Economics, was 4-0. (FTC File No. P063000; the staff contact is John H. Seesel, Associate General Counsel for Energy, Office of the General Counsel, 202-326-2702.)

FTC Approves Final Consent Order in Matter Concerning Carilion Clinic

Following a public comment period, the Commission has approved a final consent order in the matter concerning Carilion Clinic and the transmission of letters to the commenters of record. The FTC’s administrative complaint in this case challenged Carilion Clinic’s 2008 acquisition of an outpatient imaging center and an outpatient surgical center in Roanoke, Virginia, as anticompetitive.

The Commission vote approving the final order was 4-0. (FTC Docket No. D09338; the staff contact is Jeffrey Perry, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2331; see press release dated October 7, 2009, at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/carilion.shtm.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.

(FYI 53.2009.wpd)