US Ethanol Exports to Philippines Hit Record High

US fuel ethanol exports to the Philippines reached a record 382 million liters in 2025, making the country the sixth-largest market for US ethanol, according to a report by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). In a report, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service said exports rose due to greater fuel consumption and limited domestic production in the Philippines. The USDA noted that despite the lack of recent changes to the 10% bioethanol blend mandate set out by the Biofuels Act of 2006, fuel ethanol consumption continues to grow as the automobile fleet grows. The USDA said the voluntary use of gasoline with 20% bioethanol blend slightly boosted consumption in the past two years. The USDA had forecast fuel ethanol consumption in the Philippines to increase 2% to 875 million liters this year, with growth being slowed by the national energy emergency declared in March, which weakened vehicle sales and softened demand for gasoline. “Insufficient feedstock supplies limited domestic production expansion, requiring higher import volumes to satisfy growing consumption,” the USDA said. The USDA said US ethanol export volumes worldwide rose 13.5% to 8.4 billion liters in 2025, with its value increasing 9.3% to $4.7 billion. Canada was the top ethanol market for the US, with US ethanol exports of a record 3.1 billion liters in 2025, accounting for more than one-third of US ethanol exports. This was followed by the UK (1.3 billion liters), the European Union (836 million liters), India (711 million liters), and Colombia (less than 500 million liters). The USDA said ethanol exports from the US were up 12% by volume and 21% by value in the first half. However, it noted that the trajectory of US ethanol exports may drastically change by the second half due to competition from Brazil, the second-largest producer of ethanol. “Changing US and global biofuel policies, the emergence and implementation of new trade agreements, and the impacts of high energy prices due to the conflict in the Middle East could all have major impacts on 2026 US ethanol exports,” the USDA said. — Marron Joshua F. Mendoza