Houston — The US exported 395.28 million liters (104.4 million gallons) of ethanol in July, 11% below the year-ago month and down 31% from June, Department of Agriculture data showed Wednesday.
July's total brings the first seven months of 2018 to the highest volume of ethanol exported in the first seven months of any year on record. So far in 2018, the US has exported 3.9 billion liters (927.3 million gallons).
Canada was the largest buyer for fuel-grade ethanol in July, importing 142 million liters (37.4 million gallons).
Canada is a consistent source of demand for US ethanol, frequently topping the list of buyers, given its relative stability in gasoline demand and lack of expanding ethanol production capacity.
Brazil imported 71.2 million liters of ethanol (18.8 million gallons) of fuel-grade ethanol in July.
India rounded out the top three as it took 43.8 million liters (11.6 million gallons).
India has restrictions on using imported ethanol for blending with gasoline, so it imports ethanol to use for industrial purposes and sends domestic product to fuel use.
S&P Global Platts Analytics forecasts US fuel ethanol exports will reach 5.25 billion liters this year, up 5.9% from 2017.
