Rex American Resources Corporation
REX was incorporated in Delaware in 1984 as a holding company. Our principal
offices are located at 7720 Paragon Road, Dayton, Ohio 45459. Our telephone
number is (937) 276-3931. We have been an investor in ethanol production facilities
beginning in 2006. We are currently invested in three ethanol production entities;
we have a majority ownership interest in two of these entities. We may make
additional investments in the energy industry in the future.
Our ethanol operations are highly dependent on commodity prices, especially
prices for corn, ethanol, distillers grains, non-food grade corn oil and natural
gas. As a result of price volatility for these commodities, our operating results
can fluctuate substantially. The price and availability of corn is subject to
significant fluctuations depending upon a number of factors that affect commodity
prices in general, including crop conditions, weather, federal policy and foreign
trade. Because the market prices of ethanol and distillers grains are not always
directly related to corn prices, at times ethanol and/or distillers grains prices
may lag movements in corn prices and, in an environment of higher corn prices
or lower ethanol/distillers grains prices, reduce the overall margin structure
at the plants.
We expect our ethanol plants to produce approximately 2.8 gallons of denatured
ethanol for each bushel of grain processed in the production cycle. We refer
to the difference between the price per gallon of ethanol and the price per
bushel of grain (divided by 2.8) as the “crush spread.” Should the
crush spread decline, it is possible that our ethanol plants will generate operating
results that do not provide adequate cash flows for sustained periods of time.
In such cases, production at the ethanol plants may be reduced or stopped altogether
in order to minimize variable costs at individual plants. We also expect our
ethanol plants to produce approximately 15.5 pounds of distillers grains and
0.7 pounds of non-food grade corn oil for each bushel of grain processed.
We attempt to manage the risk related to the volatility of commodity prices
by utilizing forward grain purchase, forward ethanol, distillers grains and
non-food grade corn oil sale contracts and commodity futures agreements as management
deems appropriate. We attempt to match quantities of these sales contracts with
an appropriate quantity of grain purchase contracts over a given period of time
when we can obtain an adequate gross margin resulting from the crush spread
inherent in the contracts we have executed. However, the market for future ethanol
sales contracts generally lags the spot market with respect to ethanol price.
Consequently, we generally execute fixed price contracts for no more than four
months into the future at any given time and we may lock in our corn or ethanol
price without having a corresponding locked in ethanol or corn price for short
durations of time. As a result of the relatively short period of time our fixed
price contracts cover, we generally cannot predict the future movements in the
crush spread for more than four months; thus, we are unable to predict the likelihood
or amounts of future income or loss from the operations of our ethanol facilities.
We utilize derivative financial instruments, primarily exchange traded commodity
future contracts, in conjunction with certain of our grain procurement activities.
We plan to seek and evaluate various investment opportunities including energy
related, agricultural or other ventures we believe fit our investment criteria.
We can make no assurances that we will be successful in our efforts to find
such opportunities.
Through a wholly owned subsidiary REX I.P., LLC, we entered into a joint venture
with Hytken HPGP LLC (“Hytken”) to file and defend patents for eSteam
technology relating to heavy oil and oil sands production methods, and to attempt
to commercially exploit the technology to generate license fees, royalty income
and development opportunities. The patented technology is an enhanced method
of heavy oil recovery involving zero emissions downhole steam generation. To
date, we have paid approximately $1.7 million for our ownership interest, patent
and other expenses, but have not successfully demonstrated that the technology
is commercially feasible. We own 60% and Hytken owns 40% of the entity named
Future Energy, LLC (“Future Energy”), an Ohio limited liability
company. Future Energy is managed by a board of three managers, two appointed
by us and one by Hytken.