Ethanol blues. A February 28 photo file shows drum dryers arriving at the new One Earth Energy ethanol plant in Gibson City, Illinois. The dryers will rotate and burn natural gas. Investors who bought into the ethanol industry not long ago are not seeing the returns they believed were likely. The past couple of months have shaken the industry, with members of the US Congress urging that an ethanol-production mandate they once approved be rolled back to help blunt rising food prices and shortages overseas. --AP

THE ranks of the optimistic businessmen in the Philippines are thinning some more, their number reduced in terms of the confidence index to only 12.6 percent in the second quarter this year versus 29.9 percent in the first quarter and 46.4 percent a year ago.

Deputy Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Diwa Guinigundo said at a briefing Thursday this was the second quarter in a series that the index had fallen.

LONDON—Crude oil rose to a record above $135 a barrel as Opec ministers said they could do nothing to stop a rally that may be heading to $200 a barrel.

Oil has risen 19 percent this month as analysts increased their price forecasts because of supply constraints and demand growth. Opec has “no magic solution” to the surge, Qatar’s oil minister said. Prices are “out of the hands” of the organization, according to Libya’s top oil official.

IN a bid to hasten the proposal for the government to use its tax windfall from imported oil to subsidize the public’s fuel and electricity consumption, an opposition legislator pushed Thursday for a mere congressional resolution, with Malacañang concurrence, to immediately put it into action.

This route will avoid putting the proposal through the circuitous process of legislation, according to Partido ng Masang Pilipino-United Opposition Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro. “This proposal is the best and most practical solution in our effort to mitigate the rising cost of living in our country. I hope the Senate and Malacañang will take the same path so that we can implement this immediately,” Rodriguez said.

RETIRED Justice Jose Vitug has resigned as corporate secretary for the annual stockholders’ meeting of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on May 27.

Vitug, who sounded hurt by the earlier statements of Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) general manager Winston Garcia, informed the board of his decision in a letter dated May 21, a copy of which was obtained by the BusinessMirror.

THE increase in the Department of Agriculture’s (DA)rice self-sufficiency master plan received an injection of additional outlays to raise the support to P55 billion, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) reported Thursday.

Neda Acting Director General Augusto Santos said the increase was initially pegged at P43.7 billion, but the presidential economic management team, recognizing the need of the times, had approved the additional allotment for the building of more irrigation facilities.

THE age of cheap rice in the Philippines is over. Agriculture expert Rolando Dy said rice prices in the country, as in many countries in the world, will continue to rise due to the country’s underinvestment in agriculture.

“The government has not invested in agriculture and rural development. The Afma budget is not funded [and there is] poor resource use [due to] graft and corruption. [The] quality of infrastructure [also] leaves much to be desired,” Dy said in a lecture on Tuesday.

ADD travel by sea as another domino in the item lineup to be struck down by the continuing rise of oil prices as Aboitiz Transport System Corp. (ATSC), the operator of brands such as SuperFerry and 2Go, announced an increase both in its passenger and freight rates possibly by next month.

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Stay connected A demo girl demonstrates the use of a ZTE model equipment that provides Internet access for home devices. It also provides various communications services such as data, voice and video services. The booth was one of the crowd-drawers at the 2008 Philippine Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6)Summit held at Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Pasay City. --ROY DOMINGO