Vietnam Imports U.S. Ethanol As A Result Of Council Programming

Using Market Access Program (MAP) funds, the U.S. Grains Council sponsored a joint Vietnamese ministry and U.S. industry ethanol conference in Ho Chi Minh City in the fall of 2018 to share information on the country’s new E5 ethanol–gasoline blend mandate policy, the advantages of increased ethanol usage and ethanol marketing to consumers. 

More than 200 representatives participated, including officials from the Vietnamese government’s ministries of finance and industry and trade, petroleum trading and petroleum distributors, private sector enterprises, the U.S. government, and the press. 

The conference was a direct follow-up activity from the Ethanol Summit of the Asia–Pacific, held in May 2018, and in preparation for a post-tour to Nebraska associated with the Global Ethanol Summit, held in October 2019. 

Vietnam is the fastest-growing economy in Southeast Asia thanks to the increasing population, urbanization and rapid economic growth. Total gasoline consumption in the country is expected to grow by nearly 15 percent by 2022. Vietnam started offering E5 on Jan. 1, 2019, with a goal to move to E10 by 2020. By that time, Vietnam could represent a 225-million-gallon ethanol market at an E10 blend rate, equivalent to roughly 80 million bushels of corn. 

The Council’s work – in partnership with domestic ethanol industry partners – is already starting to pay off in sales as the Vietnamese fuel industry expands. After importing no U.S. ethanol for the last four marketing years, Vietnam has imported more than 3.5 million gallons of U.S. ethanol in the 2018/2019 marketing year, valued at $4.9 million.  

The Council invested $130,000 of MAP funds to promote U.S. ethanol exports to Vietnam, resulting in a return on investment (ROI) of $37 for every $1 of MAP funding invested.