Ethanol production in the Philippines this year is seen to grow by 15% over 2017 to 270 million litres thanks to new production capacity, but local output still cannot meet the 10% mandate.

This is the forecast of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Global Agriculture Information Network (GAIN). The Philippines was the fourth largest market for US ethanol in 2017. The country’s quota allocation system for local ethanol makes it one of the “most open economies for ethanol imports”, according to GAIN’s report.

Up until 2017, the volume of ethanol imports was greater than that of local production, but domestic capacity has now expanded enough to change the balance. Last year the Philippines had 10 fuel ethanol plants whose combined capacity amounted to 282 million litres. Two new plants lifted the total to 365 million litres in 2018. GAIN forecasts a fall in import volumes to 240 million litres in 2018 from 276 million litres in 2017.

 

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