This week, the government released U.S. trade data for August 2020 that showed ethanol exports of 101 million gallons (mg), which was a nice uptick from July exports of 74mg. This data brings the new twelve month rolling total through August to 1.36 billion gallons (bg), putting U.S. exports on pace to be 110mg lower than the 1.47bg total in 2019.

Strong industrial demand in several markets – including Mexico, India, and South Korea – is slightly offsetting reduced demand due to COVID and various trade barriers around the globe.  Mexico in particular had another strong month of 7mg, versus a more normal pace of 2-3mg per month, primarily due to hand sanitizer and industrial demand. Decreased blending economics are affecting several markets, which is highlighted in discretionary markets like the Arabian Gulf, which is off 77.1mg YTD. Brazil has the largest year over year decrease due to the TRQ and reduced COVID driving demand, down 200mg over the most recent twelve month period versus the 2018 record.

You can explore this export data, as well as the latest DDGS and import data at Growth Energy’s Ethanol Data Hub.