Fuel ethanol consumption in the European Union (EU) this year is seen to climb by 2.4% to 5,950 million litres, with Germany, the UK and France remaining the bloc’s top three markets for the clean fuel.

This is according to a summary of EU Farm Advisory System (FAS) data, released in August by the US’ Global Agriculture Information Network (GAIN). Ethanol demand in Germany is seen to be flat at about 1,505 million litres. In the UK it will grow to 925 million litres thanks to a higher blending mandate, but the cap on crop-based biofuels will be limiting growth.

Ethanol consumption in France is expected to inch up to 880 million litres as more and more gas stations offer the E10 and E85 blends, and also because the price of such fuels is lower than that of alternatives.

France remains the leading producer of ethanol in the EU with unchanged capacity of 1,000 million litres in 2019, GAIN’s report shows. It is followed by Germany with a capacity of 785 million litres. The UK, Hungary, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain each have ethanol production capacities of between 500 and 700 million litres.

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