Producing ethanol by reacting ethene and steam is relatively cheap (as, right now, ethane is quite cheap and not much is wasted). However, ethene is produced from crude oil which is a finite source, soon it will become fairly expensive as it gets rarer and in the end it will run out, meaning ethanol will no longer be able to be made using ethene and steam.
An advantage of making ethanol by fermenting sugars is that all 'reactants' are renewable (sugar and yeast). It also can be produced at a much lower temperature. However, the ethanol you get from fermenting sugars is not as concentrated as when you react steam with ethene (basically, its super weak). This needs to be distilled to increase its strength and it also needs to be purified. So, although its simpler, its also a lot more hassle.
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