Figures show the U.S. had a record year in 2015 when it came to ethanol exports and their byproducts.
The nation finished the year in December with 81.7 million gallons of ethanol shipped out for the month to both emerging and longtime markets, according to the Renewable Fuels Association. Canada was the top destination in December with 21.3 million gallons. Oman received 13.4 million gallons. China received 10.6 million and 8.8 million gallons of ethanol were shipped to the Philippines.
The December ethanol exports saw an increase of 39 percent over November, making it the highest monthly level since March. The ethanol exports totaled 836 million gallons for the year, identical to the amount shipped in 2014.
What turned out to be a record was the exports of U.S. distillers dried grains with solubles, the animal feed co-product manufactured by dry mill ethanol plants. It rebounded slightly in December but still finished the year at 12.55 million metric tons which was a new annual record. Where did most of it go? China. It remained as the top market for the U.S. DDGS exports in December but the amount was still 20 percent down from November’s shipments.
