Browse Data and Analysis

In 2023, China’s biofuels policies continue to wane as a priority for the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Post forecasts China to produce and consume 3.9 billion liters of fuel ethanol in 2023, only slightly higher than 2022 consumption despite the end of “Zero Covid.”

The introduction of E5 gasoline in July 2023 restarted Indonesia’s bioethanol consumption after years of inactivity, albeit to a modest start of an estimated 2 million liters for 2023 due to E5’s price premium in a price sensitive market.

Total Brazilian ethanol production for 2023 is estimated at 32.95 billion liters, an increase of seven percent relative to 2022 due to the expected increase in sugarcane production and the steady increase in corn ethanol production.

Bioethanol consumption in 2023 is forecast at 1.17 billion liters, the highest on record, because of strong gasoline demand and a high blend rate.

The production of biomass-based diesel (BBD) is expanding globally, driven by policies mandating and incentivizing its use as an alternative to petroleum-based diesel. BBD policies tend to support rural economies, lower greenhouse gas emissions in transportation, and improve air quality.

Canada’s Clean Fuel Regulation (CFR) became law on July 6, 2022. It aims to reduce the carbon intensity of liquid transportation fuels and has the potential to increase the use of low carbon-intensity diesel by an additional 2.2 billion liters and the use of ethanol by an additional 700 million liters by 2030 under the CFR, according to the federal government.

With the gradual lifting of the lockdowns, and recovering economies, consumption of bioethanol and biobased diesel (BBD) are estimated to have increased by respectively 6.1 percent and 0.6 percent in 2022.

Japan has been dramatically increasing its wood pellet imports for its feed-in tariff (FIT) program, as more large-scale FIT-approved biomass power plants become operational.

This report provides an overview of the biofuel use mandates in EU-27 member states, including temporary changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion in Ukraine. It supplements the EU Biofuels Annual Report for 2023.

State-owned Indonesian energy company Pertamina will launch a new gasoline product containing 5 percent ethanol in late June 2023, utilizing ethanol derived from domestic sugarcane.

The Government of Vietnam (GVN) issued Decree 26/2023/ND-CP on May 31, 2023, lowering Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) tariff rates on ethanol to 10 percent from 15 percent.

The United States transitioned from a net importer of ethanol in 2009 to the world’s largest supplier, exporting a record 1.7 billion gallons in 2018. While the use of ethanol as a fuel for blending with gasoline accounted for three-fourths of the export expansion, ethanol for other nonfuel industrial applications has seen slower but steady growth.