US ethanol up 39% in February over 2007, at 7.9 billion pace for ‘08

May 9, 2008

U.S. ethanol output for February jumped 39% over February 2007, according to production figures released by the Energy Information Administration. Production totaled 631 million gallons for the month, equivalent to a 7.9 billion gallon pace for the year, but slipped 33 million gallons from January because of the short month.

The Energy Information Administration said that US ethanol production increased 4.3 percent in January to 664,000 gallons, up from 636,000. The figure represented a 36 percent increase in production compared to January 2007.

Earlier this year, the Energy Information Administration projected that the US will blend only 32.5 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022, well short of the Renewable Fuel Standard target of 36 billion gallons. Guy Caruso, who heads the U.S. Energy Information Administration, told the Senate Energy Committee that the shortfall was expected in cellulosic ethanol, and would only be partly offset by an increase in imported ethanol following the expected repeal of the ethanol tariff in 2009.

Caruso said that US fuel imports would fall from 60 percent today to 51 percent in 2022 because of the impact of biofuels production. Caruso advised that he expected US output of greenhouse gases to increase 16 percent by 2030; a drop of 60-80 percent is needed by 2050 to stop global warming.

The Energy Information Administration released long-term fuel demand projections last fall that said the US will derive 83 percent of its energy needs from fossil fuels by 2030, down only 3 points from the 86 percent figure for 2006.

The EIA, which projected in its study that biofuel consumption would increase to 17 billion gallons by 2030, may have to revise its figures in the light of the passage of the Energy Bill. The Bill mandates that 36 billion gallons of biofuel fuel consumption by 2022, or more than 25 percent of total fuel use based on 2006 consumption.

Indy 500 to feature ethanol-powered pace car in 2008 race

An ethanol-powered Chevrolet Corvette will serve as the pace car for the 2008 Indianapolis 500. The pace car will be driven by two-time Formula One champion, Emerson "Emmo" Fittipaldi, who is a par...

$25 billion in 2007 global biofuels sales, to reach $81 billion in 2017

The Clean Edge report on the market size of the renewables industry was released, and said that biofuels achieved $25.4 billion in revenues in 2007 from sales of 15 billion gallons of fuel. The market...

US farm income rises 32 percent to $87.5 billion; subsidies down $3.7 billion

The USDA Economic Research Service projected that US farm income would reach a record $87.5 billion in 2007, up $28.5 billion over 2006. Crop production is expected to increase by $30 billion and live...

Sweden’s Svenska Statoil increases E85 sales 180 percent in February

In Sweden, Svenska Statoil said that E85 sales increased 180 percent in February over the corresponding period in 2007, to 1.26 million gallons. Sales increased by 4 percent over January 2008. The com...

Hedge, index fund corn speculation down by half since February

In Illinois, analysis of non-commercial investors in corn, revealed that speculators, hedge funds and index funds held 484,000 long positions in corn in February 2008, equivalent to 2.42 billion bushe...

USDA confirms corn forecast, reduces demand projections for ethanol

The USDA confirmed its 2007 corn production estimate of 13.3 billion bushels, lowered its soybean production estimate to 2.6 billion bushels from 2.62 billion, and reduced its projected use of corn by...

Written by Jim Lane · Filed Under Producer News