By Ann Lewis, Senior Analyst
July U.S. ethanol exports rose 6% to 107.2 million gallons (mg), marking the tenth consecutive month that exports breached 100 mg. Canada imported 41.6 mg, up 1%, to maintain its status as our largest customer. Sales to Singapore quadrupled to 12.3 mg (its largest imports of U.S. ethanol since Jan. 2018), while exports to the Netherlands increased 7% to 11.4 mg. However, shipments to South Korea declined by a third to an 8-month low of 9.3 mg. Other substantial importers of U.S. ethanol included Peru (5.6 mg, +73%), Mexico (5.3 mg, +10%), and the United Kingdom (4.5 mg, -63%). China and Brazil again were not key market players in July. Total U.S. ethanol exports for the first seven months of 2022 were 932.9 mg, up 30% from the same period in 2021 and remaining on a record pace.
The U.S. logged 8.2 mg of Brazilian undenatured ethanol in July. (South Africa also shipped 10,601 gallons of denatured fuel ethanol.) Total year-to-date imports stand at 29.5 mg, up 16% from the same period in 2021.
U.S. exports of dried distillers grains (DDGS), the animal feed co-product generated by dry-mill ethanol plants, expanded 5% in July to a 6-month high of 1.06 million metric tons (mt). Mexico returned as our largest market, up 40% to 221,587 mt, representing 21% of July shipments. Turkey imported 111,813 mt, up 2% and its largest volume of U.S. DDGS in a year. Vietnam cut its imports by half to 103,068 mt on the heels of sharply higher sales in June, and exports to Indonesia slipped 1% to 93,161 mt. These four countries represented half of our export market in July. Other larger markets included Canada (87,431 mt, -11%), South Korea (86,071, +6%), Japan (59,187 mt, +118%), Israel (54,776 mt, +90% to a record high), and Ireland (45,388 mt, +36%). The remaining U.S. DDGS shipments were dispersed among another 20 countries. Year-to-date exports totaled 6.73 million mt, which is 4% greater than the same period in 2021.
