Biofuels Make a Comeback Despite Tough Economy

Further highlights from the study

• Due to unsteady ethanol production in Brazil in 2010, the U.S. became a net exporter of the fuel for the first time, sending a record 1.3 billion liters abroad, a 300% increase over 2009.
• Sugarcane ethanol supplies 41.5% of the energy (48% of the volume) for light-duty transportation fuels in Brazil.
• Asia produced 12% of the world's biodiesel in 2010, a 20% increase from 2009, mostly using palm oil feedstock in Indonesia and Thailand.
• Virtually all of the 1.5 billion liters of Argentina's biodiesel exports, representing 71% of total production, went to Europe.
• Canada has national mandates for the production of E5 (5% ethanol and 95% gasoline) and B2 (2% ethanol and 98% gasoline), and four Canadian provinces have individual mandates up to E85.
• In the U.S., eliminating the 54¢/gal. import tariff and 45¢/gal. blenders' credit would reduce the ethanol industry's profits by 7% and its margins by 20%, according to the University of Missouri's Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute.
• Brazil plans to build 103 new sugarcane mills by 2019, increasing production capacity by 66%.