USGC says ethanol exports available despite COVID-19

In Washington, the US Grains Council says that while U.S. ethanol exports are up by three percent year-over-year according to new data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the outbreak of COVID-19 will have structural impacts on demand for the rest of 2020. The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) is working to keep end-users around the world informed on the status of the U.S. ethanol industry as the pandemic continues to develop.

USDA reported last week that U.S. ethanol exports increased slightly year-over-year to 812 million gallons (288 million bushels in corn equivalent) for the first six months of the marketing year (Sept. 2019-Feb. 2020). Brazil remained the top export destination at 201 million gallons (71.3 million bushels in corn equivalent), despite a small decline due to the restructuring of Brazil’s tariff rate quota (TRQ) and a strengthening U.S. dollar. The European Union had a notable 28 percent increase from 2018/2019 imports at 79 million gallons (28 million bushels in corn equivalent).

These data points were not able to take into account the still-developing impacts of COVID-19 and oil production disputes, which hav