The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is reporting that U.S. ethanol exports totaled 95.3 million gallons (mg) in March, a 42 percent increase from February. This is also the highest monthly volume in more than four years. The data comes from the latest report from the U.S. government. The top export market was China (37 mg) followed by Brazil (20.7 mg) and Canada (16.2 mg). Year-to-date ethanol exports are 249.4 mg and RFA says the U.S. is on pace to ship 1 billion gallons of exports this year.

March exports of denatured fuel ethanol were 50.1 mg, an increase of 49 percent from February. Two countries accounted for 99 percent of denatured fuel ethanol exports—China received 35.3 mg, while Canada took in 14.3 mg. Brazil was the only other major importer of denatured fuel ethanol in March, bringing in 0.5 mg.

Undenatured fuel ethanol exports stood at 41.2 mg in March, up 32 percent from February. At 20.7 mg, Brazil received roughly half of the undenatured product shipments followed by India (4.1 mg), Peru (3.3 mg), South Korea (3.3 mg), Jamaica (2.9 mg), Mexico (2.6 mg), and China (1.7 mg). Exports of denatured and undenatured ethanol for non-fuel, non-beverage use totaled 4.0 mg in March followed by Canada (1.9 mg) and Sweden (1.6 mg).

Exports of dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) totaled 822,945 metric tons (mt) in March, up 5 percent from February. Mexico was the top destination for DDGS exports (142,117 mt) while China’s imports were down 42 percent from February (121,619 mt) followed by South Korea (83,196 mt), Vietnam (71,840 mt), Turkey (60,997 mt), Indonesia (51,554 mt), and Thailand (42,328 mt). Year-to-date DDGS exports through the first quarter stood at 2.4 million mt.