Bismarck- The North Dakota Industrial Commission has authorized the Bank of North Dakota (BND) to provide a financing program to assist North Dakota’s ethanol producers in securing working capital to maintain operations in the state. The ethanol industry in North Dakota supports over 10,000 jobs utilizing 140 million bushels of corn to produce 400 million gallons of ethanol and 1.3 million tons of distiller’s grains.
“North Dakota’s ethanol plants provide an economic impact to the small communities in which they are located and to the agriculture community as a whole,” said the Industrial Commission, which consists of Gov. Doug Burgum as chairman, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring, in a joint statement. “BND is again showing it is agile and can adapt to current economic conditions. BND is able to provide working capital to the ethanol industry by utilizing the Partnership in Community Expansion (PACE) program, which offers buydowns to a borrower’s interest rate, in tandem with the legislatively authorized Fuel Production Loan Guarantee program for biofuels.”
Under terms of the program, the state’s ethanol producers may access up to $15 million or 50 cents per bushel of corn that would have normally been purchased (or the volume of equivalent feedstock capacity) in the first two quarters of 2020, whichever is less. BND will provide buydown from its PACE program up to a maximum of $500,000.
To assist private sector banks in providing the loans, BND is utilizing its legislatively authorized Fuel Production Loan Guarantee to provide a 100% loan guarantee to financial institutions providing loans to the state’s ethanol producers.
The Bank’s mission “to support agriculture, commerce and industry” has not changed since its earliest days in 1919. The only state-owned bank in the nation, the Bank of North Dakota is overseen by the Industrial Commission.
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For media requests, contact Janel Schmitz, Communications & Marketing Manager 701.595.6497 or janelschmitz@nd.gov.