Missouri is prepared for a law requiring a ten percent ethanol blend to kick in next week.

According to an article in the Kansas City Star, most of the gasoline sold in Missouri already being blended with ethanol.

The law “sent a tremendous signal,” said Gary Marshall, chief executive officer of the Missouri Corn Growers Association, and E-10 now meets about 90 percent of the demand for gasoline in the state.

F. J. Cronenwett, director of wholesale fuels for Robson Oil, which supplies several area gas stations, said that most fuel retailers in Missouri and Kansas were using E-10 because of the lower price and were even using an ethanol blend when they buy premium fuel, which won’t be required under the Missouri law.

“That’s really the way the market works right now,” he said.

Missouri currently has five ethanol plants on-line with a total annual production of 225 million gallons and by the end of 2008 the state should have 275 million gallons of production capacity, which is enough to meet the state’s demand for E-10.

Check out a map of Missouri’s ethanol production from the MCGA here.