The latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) global outlook for grains is forecasting an increase of 50 million bushels in the amount of corn used to produce ethanol this year.

USDA Outlook Board Chairman Seth Meyer says factors contributing to the expected increase are higher gasoline consumption growth, reduced sorghum used to produce ethanol and higher expected blending. “We’ve been doing a good export business and we expect that to continue in the near term as well,” says Meyer.

Overall, total U.S. corn usage is expected to decline two percent this year, due in part to “projected feed and residual use declines as a smaller crop and increased use of ethanol by-products more than offsets growth in grain consuming animal units.”