US consumed nearly 2.9 billion gallons of bio and renewable diesel in 2016

In Missouri, U.S. consumers saw a record of almost 2.9 billion gallons of biodiesel and renewable diesel in 2016, outpacing the previous record by almost 40 percent. Also for the first time ever, the monthly market topped 300 million gallons, with December’s numbers coming in at 362 million gallons.

According to numbers released by the EPA Thursday, the 2.9 billion gallons was an increase of 800 million gallons from 2.1 billion gallons of biodiesel and renewable diesel in 2015. At the same time domestic production rose from about 1.4 billion gallons in 2015 to more than 1.8 billion gallons in 2016, well below available capacity. Imports increased by more than 50 percent from an estimated 670 million gallons in 2015 to over 1 billion gallons in 2016, shortchanging potential economic benefits to U.S. producers.