Total Ethanol Consumption and Average Blend Rate Both Saw Year-Over-Year Declines

Data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reveals the extensive damage to 2018 ethanol demand that resulted from former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s egregious abuse of small refinery exemptions (SREs). Pruitt excused 48 refiners from their legal blending obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), resulting in a flood of unneeded RINs into the market and a subsequent collapse in RIN prices. The wave of surplus RINs reduced the incentive to expand ethanol blending beyond the so-called E10 “blend wall,” while low RIN prices pressured ethanol values and margins throughout 2018. The significant destruction in ethanol demand harmed ethanol producers, farmers and consumers.

According to the Renewable Fuels Association’s (RFA) analysisof the new EIA data:

U.S. ethanol consumption declined to 14.42 billion gallons in 2018 from 14.50 billion gallons in 2017. Based on the EIA’s forecast in January 2018 (i.e., before the market became aware of rampant SREs), U.S. ethanol consumption was expected to reach 14.66 billion gallons—237 million gallons more than what actually occurred; and
The U.S. ethanol blend rate fell to 10.07% in 2018 from 10.13% in 2017. The blend rate began to drop in February 2018, as rumors and press reports regarding SREs made their way into the market. This was far below expectations at the start of 2018, when EIA had forecasted an implied ethanol blend rate of 10.26% for 2018. For the February-December period, the blend rate averaged just 10.01%.

Read the full RFA analysis here.

Commenting on the data, RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper stated, “As expected, EIA’s latest data confirms that small refiner exemptions caused both the ethanol blend rate and the total ethanol volume consumed to drop in 2018. This was the first year-over-year decline in U.S. ethanol consumption since 1998, breaking a 20-year trend of annual increases in domestic ethanol demand. Similarly, the blend rate slid backward for the first time since EIA began offering more robust ethanol blending data in 2010. The RFS was designed to steadily expand the amount of renewable fuels blended into our fuel supply each and every year. Unfortunately, that is not what happened in 2018, and all the evidence points back to former Administrator Pruitt’s unprecedented abuse of small refiner waivers as the cause. As newly confirmed EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler considers the 37 petitions now before him for small refiner exemptions from 2018 RFS requirements, we urge him to take a more measured, constrained, and reasonable approach that remains faithful to the spirit and intent of the RFS.”

Total Ethanol Consumption and Average Blend Rate Both Saw Year-Over-Year Declines

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