USGC efforts lead to growth in ethanol exports to South Korea

The COVID-19 pandemic had a major affect on the U.S. ethanol export market in South Korea and Southeast Asia, which the U.S. Grains Council labored to deal with by means of programming that supported expanded industrial ethanol gross sales into the nation and the area as an entire.

In August 2020, the U.S. Grains Council held a digital convention with KC&A, the biggest U.S. ethanol purchaser in Asia, to increase the provision of ethanol for hand sanitizer and to keep up industrial and ethanol exports to Southeast Asia by means of Ulsan port.

Later in September 2020, the Council held a digital ethanol consumers convention to proceed to develop and increase the gas and industrial ethanol markets throughout a time of shifted demand because of pandemic restrictions. The convention supplied ethanol consumers with info on the present state of the U.S. ethanol business and export alternatives for gas and industrial grade ethanol, along with facilitating enterprise alternatives between U.S. suppliers and world consumers. From Korea, 11 ethanol consumers and stakeholders, together with KC&A, participated and had the chance to carry one-on-one enterprise conferences with U.S. ethanol suppliers.

Extra direct contacts with ethanol business contributors adopted up on these engagements to make sure that they had enough info to make selections throughout difficult market circumstances.

New ethanol gross sales to Korea had been realized by means of these actions to assist contributors grasp the newest market info, discover new demand within the area, and diversify their provide chains by assembly new suppliers.

A complete of $147.7 million of U.S. ethanol was exported to South Korea in 2020, a rise of 81 p.c in comparison with 2017. By quantity, this enhance was 94 p.c, from 41 million gallons to 80 million gallons. Pushed by these gross sales, Korea’s Ulsan Port is changing into an vital transshipment port for exports of U.S. industrial and gas ethanol to Southeast Asia. Ulsan can settle for giant tank vessels, finally decreasing transportation prices to Southeast Asia and growing the
competitivity of U.S. ethanol within the area.

The Council has invested $245,000 in MAP funds in these promotion applications leading to a rise of $66 million in industrial ethanol exports to South Korea over the previous 4 years, an ROI of $269 per $1 MAP invested over the previous 4 years.