The fuel ethanol industry has been kind to Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). The Decatur, Ill.-based agri-giant gives partial credit to the renewable fuel for a significant increase in net earnings.

ADM announced Aug. 1 its net earnings were $1.312 billion for the year ending June 30, 2006. That is a 26 percent increase from 2005.

"ADM delivered its second consecutive year of record earnings," CEO and President Patricia Woertz said in a release. "Credit goes to the people of ADM and the alignment of our strategy, global portfolio of assets and strong management team. We have good momentum going forward and are well positioned to capitalize on our opportunities for continued growth."

Woertz recently joined ADM in May, making the company the largest publicly traded U.S. firm headed by a woman. She was formerly executive vice president of Chevron, where she led the company's global refining, marketing, lubricant and supply and trading businesses. Woertz succeeded G. Allen Andreas, who remains as ADM chairman.

ADM announced its Corn Processing division's operating profit increased from $169 million to $286 million for the last quarter of the fiscal year. Of that, ADM's bioproducts, of which ethanol is factored, increased $149 million to $174 million in the last quarter. For the fiscal year, bioproducts increased $187 million to a remarkable $446 million.

The company, which has long led the ethanol industry in volume, produces more than 1 billion gallons of ethanol, much of it at its Decatur facilities. ADM is planning to expand its Cedar Rapids, Iowa, production by building a 275 MMgy dry grind facility next to its existing wet mill. Plans are also in place to build a new dry mill in Columbus, Neb., which would put ADM well on its way to its stated 500 MMgy ethanol production increase.

ADM's Oilseeds Processing division also saw a marked increase in operating profit due to improved market conditions. ADM is building an 85 MMgy biodiesel plant in Velva, N.D. It also has a stake in Mid-America Biofuels, a 30 MMgy plant under construction near Mexico, Mo. The company also recently announced its plans to build a biodiesel facility in Brazil.

More information on ADM's Brazil biodiesel plant is available in the September 2006 issue of Biodiesel Magazine. More earnings information is available at ADM's Investor Relations Web site http://www.admworld.com/naen/ir/news.asp.

Posted: 2:10 p.m. CDT Monday, August 7, 2006