Ethanol production is actually helping keep food and fuel prices lower than they would be, notes the Renewable Fuels Association, citing recent news reports.

Without the expansion of biofuel production and use in the US, Brazil and elsewhere, world oil demand would increase and so would the price. Merrill Lynch analyst Francisco Blanch told the Wall Street Journal that world oil prices would be 15% higher. At today’s record prices, that would equate to $132 per barrel of oil.

That may be why Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted Saturday as saying crude oil prices at $115 a barrel are too low.

According to the Associated Press, the Web site of Iran’s state-run television quoted Ahmadinejad as saying, “The oil price of $115 a barrel in today’s global markets is a deceiving figure. Oil is a strategic commodity that needs to discover its real value.”