EU rebuffed
The European Union (eu) could not convert Europe's grain stock to biofuel as German traders made no bids to sell 200,000 tonnes of rye for processing into bioethanol. Rye is produced in massive volumes by East German farmers although it is no longer in demand. Thus, eu's grain management committee decided to open the tender for supplies of rye to fulfill an annual requirement of about 1.5 million tonnes of grain of the bioethanol plants.
This tender was issued against the wishes of the German government. Even traders were dissatisfied and felt that the tender involved high costs and considerable risks, as they had to give security for the rye and got it back only when the rye had actually been used for biofuel and processed into bioethanol.