USGC data shows non-beverage ethanol fastest growing US export over the past decade

In Washington, recent analysis by the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) shows non-beverage ethanol has been the fastest growing U.S. agricultural export over the past decade by a significant margin.

In 2018, U.S. ethanol exports totaled more than 6.5 billion liters (1.72 billion gallons or 609 million bushels in corn equivalent), valued at $2.7 billion. Using trade data on 47 different agricultural and ag-related product groupings tracked by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA’s FAS) via its Global Agricultural Trade System (GATS) system, analysis reveals the volume of ethanol exports grew by 18 percent per year over the past five years and 13 percent per year over the past 10 years.

Growth for each group was calculated on a fitted five- and 10 year-trendline and then adjusted for volatility. Of the 47 groups evaluated over the past five years, 21 showed negative growth over the period. The rest increased, but at a slower rate than ethanol.

These data track with increasing ethanol trade globally and demonstrate why ethanol market development is so important to U.S. farmers and ethanol producers.