Bioethanol consumption for transport in the ЕU is expected to fall by 12.6% in 2020 because of the COVID-19 crisis and projected economic recession, according to a recent report published by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
This means a reduction of about 760 million litres compared to 2019 levels, down to 5,253 million litres. The decline of 12.6% is equal to the drop in motor gas use in the EU estimated for 2020 by the Monthly Oil Data Service of the International Energy Agency (IEA). The blend rate is expected to stay at 5.6%.
Germany and France will suffer the biggest reduction in bioethanol use in transport this year -- of 30% and 22, respectively, because of the lockdowns. In some EU countries bioethanol use will be supported by an increase of blending mandates and some, such as Hungary, will even consume more bioethanol than in 2019.
After a 5.6% decline between 2018 and 2019, EU production of fuel bioethanol is expected to drop by 9.8% to 4,680 million litres in 2020.
Provided by Renewables Now exclusively for Essentica.
Image by Falk Lademann licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr.
