Using Agricultural Trade Promotion (ATP) program funds, the U.S. Grains Council sponsored participation at the Global Ethanol Summit of ethanol buyers from nearly two dozen Middle Eastern, European and African countries, who subsequently purchased $245 million in U.S. ethanol.
The Global Ethanol Summit was hosted in Washington, D.C., in October 2019 by the Council, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and Growth Energy to gather more than 400 high-level government and industry officials from 60 countries to learn about biofuels policy and using ethanol. Participants included more than 50 key government officials and senior-level industry leaders, including ethanol producers, oil refiners, fuel buyers, and traders from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
The delegations from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa joined the Global Ethanol Summit to better understand the potential impacts of higher-level biofuels policies, including decreasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improving clean air quality.
They also traveled on Council-sponsored post-Summit tours in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota to see the full production and value chain of ethanol in the United States, highlighting ethanol as a cost-competitive transport fuel that offers long-term, medium-term, and short-term benefits to consumers, suppliers and the governments that regulate them.
The United States exported around 238 million gallons (85 million bushels in corn equivalent) of ethanol in marketing year 2018/2019 to the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, representing 15 percent of the total exports of U.S. ethanol around the world, valued at $369 million, according to USDA data. Following the Summit, the participants from Europe, the Middle East and Africa shipped 139 million gallons of U.S. ethanol in MY 2019/2020 (until April 2020) – equivalent to 49 million bushels of corn – mainly to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Arab Gulf countries (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman), Turkey, Cyprus, and Nigeria. These sales had a total value of $245 million.
The Council invested $440,000 of Agricultural Trade Promotion (ATP) program funds to sponsor participants at the Summit from these regions, supporting the $245 million worth of business conducted and yielding a return on investment of more than $557 per $1 of ATP funds invested.
Learn more about the Council’s work to promote the use of ethanol.
About The U.S. Grains Council
The U.S. Grains Council develops export markets for U.S. barley, corn, sorghum and related products including distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and ethanol. With full-time presence in 28 locations, the Council operates programs in more than 50 countries and the European Union. The Council believes exports are vital to global economic development and to U.S. agriculture’s profitability. Detailed information about the Council and its programs is online at www.grains.org.