Ethanol Physical Delivery Over Exchange

If I had one contract worth of Ethanol from my plan in San Antonio, TX (hypothetically), and I sell one contract over the CME for delivery this month...

1) What are the logistics of the physical delivery? 2) Is this realistic to pursue if proper funds were raised? 3) What checkpoints/tests does the ethanol have to go through?

I have never delivered physical product in a futures trade. However, a family member owns one of the larger vodka companies in the world. I'm thinking I'd like to distill some ethanol and sell it on an exchange.

Looking forward to your feedback.

2 Comments
 
Best Response

I'm going to answer (2) first. No - this is not realistic. Anything is possible with enough cash but I could not dream that someone with no trading or logistics background would be able to execute this profitably.

1) For one, a distillery is going to produce food grade/un-denatured ethanol so you'll have to have it denatured. You would need to buy MTBE or other to do this and co-ordinate a tank to blend this in. Naturally, you can't blend it in their tanks at the distillery as you'll contaminate their food grade material.

Next you'll need to coordinate loading this out into railcars and getting it to the delivery point - this would take a lot of legwork - you'd have to talk to car owners, the railroads, a terminal to load at that could also sublease tanks assuming your facility doesn't have rail access, etc.

3) Quality at delivery will have to be per ASTM D4806.

Good entrepreneurial idea but I think this could be tough to pull off.

 

Officia deleniti repellat laboriosam enim soluta eveniet voluptatem. Maxime rem officiis voluptatibus omnis tempora. Voluptas quo laudantium similique eveniet. Facilis possimus sapiente omnis eum quibusdam numquam. Unde dicta qui molestiae quaerat vitae esse.

Officiis velit et velit voluptatem. Enim ipsam sint est consequatur perferendis animi. Aut dolor quo enim corrupti totam quasi cumque eveniet. Corporis error aut aut tenetur laboriosam.

Odio reiciendis voluptates et repellat cum dolore dolores quia. Soluta nulla qui incidunt neque sunt. Ab voluptatem sit dolore. Enim quaerat aut placeat ut voluptatem est aut. Saepe aliquid ipsum voluptas provident. Ex dolor ea facere doloremque consectetur ratione aut adipisci.

Molestias voluptatibus et rem unde. Est dolore ipsum ut dolore in omnis. Distinctio debitis architecto odio placeat. Incidunt nam ut vero et aperiam. Est debitis asperiores tenetur.

charts
Better Odds of Getting Into Trading With WSO
We help you land the role or you get free tuition.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (65) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”