Federal Trade Commission 2021 report shows low level of ethanol market concentration

In Washington, the Federal Trade Commission has issued its 2021 Report on Ethanol Market Concentration. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 directs the Commission to perform an annual review of market concentration in the ethanol production industry “to determine whether there is sufficient competition among industry participants to avoid price-setting and other anticompetitive behavior.”

As in prior years, the 2021 report concludes that “[t]he low level of concentration and large number of market participants in the U.S. ethanol production industry continue to suggest that the exercise of market power to set prices, or coordinate on price or output levels, is unlikely on a nationwide basis.”  The Commission vote to approve the report was 4-0.