The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) is holding ethanol promotion events across Asia to help overseas importers and governments see the climate and cost benefits of biofuel blending.
BGA Japan, an international consulting firm, recently held a symposium promoting the production and use of ethanol by the transportation sector in Japan. The Council has been supporting BGA Japan by providing the firm with updates on the ethanol market and the advantages that come with using biofuel.
To an audience of more than 100 people, Mr. Akira Amari, a member of the House of Representatives in Japan, encouraged Japan to take more initiative in the international, environmental and biofuels rulemaking. He also shared his thoughts on the use of biofuels versus electric vehicles (EVs) in the future, explaining that while new car sales may move toward EVs, internal combustion vehicles will remain the dominant on-road vehicle in the decades to come, further creating the demand for carbon neutral fuels for vehicles in Japan.
Japan currently imports 218 million gallons of ethanol in the form of ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE), of which 137 million gallons were of U.S. origin during the 2021/22 marketing year. The Council will continue to work with the government of Japan to incentivize direct blending of ethanol to advance Japan’s carbon reduction goals, address its energy security concerns and work together with like-minded entities to facilitate the promotion.
The Council also maintains a strong presence in Southeast Asia and Oceania (SEA), which contains a diverse mix of developing and mature markets for U.S. products. Staff members in the Council’s regional office in Malaysia spent a week in Ilocos Norte, Philippines, in January to survey community ethanol development programs and research infrastructure with memorandum of understanding (MOU) partner Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU).
USGC and MMSU – which houses the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-supported National Bioenergy Research & Innovation Centre (NBERIC) – previously signed an MOU in July 2022 to cooperate on the exchange of knowledge, technical information and best practices related to the ethanol industry and its policy development in the Philippines.
The visit comprised an assessment of current ethanol research programs at NBERIC, briefings on the university’s bioenergy curriculum, a survey of nipa grass farms used as feedstock sources for community-scale ethanol distilleries and a meeting with Ilocos Norte Governor Matthew Marcos Manotoc to discuss MMSU’s ethanol programs and rural economic development in the province.
The Council recently sponsored two MMSU and NBERIC faculty members to take part in a three-week virtual “Ethanol Procurement for Importers” course provided by the Northern Crops Institute, during which participants attended lectures covering the U.S. corn ethanol industry, sustainability and ethanol policy.
The U.S. ethanol industry is a major servicer for the Philippines, supplying roughly 40 percent of the country’s annual ethanol demand of 170 million gallons (60,283,687 bushels in corn equivalent). The Philippines implemented an E10 mandate in 2011 and is currently evaluating an expansion of the fuel ethanol policy.
