US ethanol market has record-breaking production year

South Korea imported 57.3 million gallons of U.S. ethanol while Peru imported 18 million gallons.
South Korea imported 57.3 million gallons of U.S. ethanol while Peru imported 18 million gallons. | File photo

Record-breaking numbers were reached in the 2014-15 U.S. ethanol marketing year, with a volume of 14.7 billion gallons produced and 872 million gallons exported. 

Government mandates for a certain amount of ethanol to be blended with gasoline are a major part of the increase as the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates 84 percent of exports went to countries with these sort of mandates in 2014. The USDA projects the trend will continue through at least 2016.

Canada continues to be the country with the highest percentage of U.S. ethanol imports, while the European Union, which had previously imported a significant percent of U.S. ethanol, saw a large drop in imports from previous years.

India, Peru, the Philippines, and South Korea joined Canada as the top five importers of U.S. ethanol. During the marketing year, the Philippines was unable to meet its 10 percent blend mandate, which required them to look to imports.

India faced a similar situation because of a lack of domestic fuel ethanol supplies. South Korea imported 57.3 million gallons of U.S. ethanol while Peru imported 18 million gallons and Mexico imported 33.4 million gallons.