Deputy USDA Secretary Stephen Vaden has spoken to a number of trade partners in recent months and says other countries are eager for biofuels.
“This summer, Vietnam is adopting E10. They wanted the United States to be the provider of that ethanol, and as they develop their infrastructure further, and build plants that can produce ethanol in Vietnam, they want American corn to be the source material that feeds those plants. The trade framework that the Administration has reached with Japan specifically has a request to buy sustainable or synthetic, whichever ‘s’ you please, aviation fuel from the United States.”
U.S. biofuel groups remain in a holding pattern over year-round sales of E15. The House council tasked with finding a way forward has missed key deadlines in recent weeks; however, Sam Hudson with Cornbelt Marketing tells us that foreign demand is strong and warns more ethanol demand in the U.S. could put pressure on the entire U.S. biofuels industry.
“Every time we get legislation, you know, related to demand, there’s always a blow off valve or some relief valve, and that’s unfortunate. We’ve continued to see out a small refinery exemptions, and so if we just give ourselves a different valve, you know, it could hurt other things. The main thing I’m thinking about is our export market and how much that’s grown over the past two or three years, potentially even eclipsing the growth that’s desired with E15. So I think that organic growth around the globe is outpacing what we’re even able to do here domestically. And when you look at usage here in general, it’s already record large, so, I don’t think jamming more into the pipeline is necessarily what we need.”
It is unclear when the E15 Council will release their guidance. They were supposed to have legislation ready for debate by the end of February, but that deadline has passed.
