Aventine sees soft ethanol margins

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ethanol maker Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings Inc expects ethanol margins to be soft but not negative through the end of the 2008, Chief Executive Ronald Miller said on Wednesday.

"In terms of margins, it's going to be lower than what we'd call a normalized margin, although we've not seen anything that would indicates a negative margin," Miller told Reuters in an interview.

Miller also said he believed there would be a good opportunity for the ethanol industry to consolidate over the next 12 months.

(Reporting by Matt Daily; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)