[Enigmeerkat]

So I've been wondering, back before the current fuel crisis really kicked off, E85 was around 40c cheaper per litre vs 98RON.

When the prices went up, they both went up, but E85 seemed to go up by way more - which seems especially weird since I believe our ethanol is locally produced (so not vastly impacted by international events), and it only contains 15% petrol. To me, this suggests that if the price of petrol doubled, then only the 15% portion of E85 would double, so it would only cost an extra 15% (maybe factor in a little bit extra for transport costs).

Instead, what has happened is that 98 went up to ~$2.20, and E85 went up to the same amount! Even now that prices have dropped back for 98 down to $1.60-$1.80, E85 is still $2.00 - up to $2.20 in some places! It's been long nough now that the fuel should have cycled through and the prices should have stabilised/relevelled, no? Any idea why this would be? Is it just price gouging or are there other effects/forces I am unaware of?

Used to be that $/km E85 was maybe 10% more than 98 for me, but now it's nearly double.