U.S. ethanol exports could double this year from the 400 million gallons exported in 2010, the chief executive officer of an ethanol company said.
The 2010 exports were a fourfold increase over 2009 ethanol exports, according to the Renewable Fuels Association. Canada is the leading importer of U.S. ethanol, followed by the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, India and United Arab Emirates.
"We've seen expressions of interest from Brazil, where the sugar market is going to make it difficult for them to meet their domestic demand," said Todd Becker, whose Omaha, Neb.-based Green Plains Energy operates plants in Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska and Tennessee.
Sales to Brazil could be tricky since the United States still maintains a tariff on imported ethanol that Brazil has protested.
The executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, Monte Shaw, said expansion of ethanol export markets might be a necessity this year because of overcapacity.
The 13 billion gallons of ethanol produced last year pushed the industry to the "blend wall" of 10 percent of the 130 billion gallons of gasoline consumed annually in the United States.
Expansion of the legal blend limit to 15 percent, approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last year, is expected to have minimal effect on demand because of lack of retail pump capacity.
Ethanol sells for about $2.50 per gallon, some 50 cents per gallon below wholesale unleaded gasoline prices.
