US ethanol exports increased by 300% last year

Both the ethanol and biodiesel global markets continued to grow in 2010 with biofuels production up 17%, compared to a 10% rise in 2009. This is according to a report on 2010 biofuel production by US research company Worldwatch Institute.

Ethanol remains the most widely produced biofuel; of the 105 billion litres produced in 2010, 86 billion litres was made up of ethanol.

In recent years a number of oil companies including Sunoco, Valero, Flint Hills and Murphy Oil have entered the ethanol market as a result of high oil prices, and authors of the report say the biofuel increase can, in part, be attributed to this.

Biofuels growth in 2010 was particularly prominent in the US, and ethanol output here reached 49 billion litres, a 20% increase on 2009 production levels.

Brazil remained the world's second largest ethanol supplier in 2010 and the country's ethanol output from sugarcane increased by 2 billion litres to 28 billion litres. This is a 7% rise on the previous year.

Despite this, demand outweighed supply and as a result the US ended up exporting 1.3 billion litres of its corn-based ethanol to Brazil, in addition to other markets, in 2010. This is a 300% increase compared to US ethanol exports reported in 2009. And this trend is expected to continue, according to the US Department of Energy (DoE).

But Worldwatch highlights that it may not last long as ethanol production in Europe may be on the rise.