Ethanol exports were lower in July but remain on target to score another record year.
According to the Renewable Fuels Association’s latest Trade Monitor, U.S. ethanol exports were down three percent in July, but the total for the year through July is 1.41 billion gallons, running 13% ahead of the same period last year.
Canada remained the leading destination for U.S. ethanol, despite shipments declining by five percent in July. Exports to the European Union dropped 18% to 50.4 mg, with most shipments entering through the Netherlands. Exports to Vietnam expanded sixfold to a record-high of 18.6 mg. Exports to the United Kingdom declined 14% to 12.8 mg.
The export year actually ended August 31, and when the receipts are finally counted, RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper says he expects U.S. ethanol exports to exceed last year’s record of 2.2 billion gallons. “We are expecting to eclipse that. We’re looking at probably 2.4 billion gallons of ethanol exports this year. So exports are booming,” he said in an interview last week at Farm Progress Show.
July exports of dried distillers grains (DDGS) were effectively unchanged from June at 1.10 million metric tons (mt), and totaled 7.27 million mt for the year, 13% above the same period in 2025. Cooper says increasing that export market has been a key goal of the biennial Export Exchange, which will be held this year October 15-17 in Seattle. “The purpose of the event is to provide education and information and data about the co-products that are being produced in the ethanol industry to potential customers and existing customers of those co-products,” said Cooper. “About one out of every three tons of distillers grains that we produce today is being exported. So that education process remains very important.”