ERS conducts a variety of market outlook activities on feedstocks for biofuels. Details on major changes and events in world corn and other feedgrain markets are published monthly in Feed Outlook. Markets for soybeans and other oilseeds are covered in the monthly Oil Crops newsletter. Cellulosic processes to produce biofuels are not yet commercially available in the United States; therefore, only data and information on ethanol and biodiesel, and their feedstocks, are presented here.

In conjunction with USDA's World Agricultural Outlook Board, Agricultural Marketing Service, Farm Service Agency, and Foreign Agricultural Service, ERS develops USDA's monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report (WASDE). The WASDE provides a breakdown of the domestic and global supply and utilization situation for corn, sorghum, barley, and oats. As part of these estimates, ERS provides trade data for ethyl alcohol (grain ethanol) in Table 32-U.S. exports of ethyl alcohol by selected destinations and Table 33-U.S. imports of ethyl alcohol by selected sources  of the ERS Feed Grains: Yearbook Tables data product.

Information from the WASDE is combined with data and information from the Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, and other government sources to provide a view of the supply, demand, and prices of biofuels and biofuel feedstocks. 

Long-term supply and utilization projections for biofuels are available through the Agricultural Baseline Projections topic.

Last updated: Sunday, May 27, 2012

For more information contact: Thomas Capehart and Utpal Vasavada