USDA: Corn use for fuel ethanol up in December
February 28, 2022
BY Erin Voegele
The USDA recently released its Grain Crushings and Co-Products Production report for December, reporting that corn use for fuel ethanol production was up from both the previous month and the same period of 2020.
Total corn consumed for alcohol and other uses was 539 million bushels in December 2021, up 4 percent from the previous month and up 12 percent from December 2020. December usage included 92.5 percent for alcohol and 7.5 percent for other purposes.
Advertisement
Corn consumed for fuel alcohol reached 486 million bushels, up 4 percent when compared to November 2021 and up 13 percent from December 2020. Corn consumed for dry milling fuel production and wet milling fuel production was 92 percent and 8 percent, respectively.
The USDA withheld the volume of sorghum used to produce fuel ethanol in December to avoid disclosing data for individual operations.
At dry mills, condensed distillers solubles production reached 94,168 tons, up from 87,051 tons in November and 74,497 tons in December 2020. Corn oil production expanded to 194,497 tons, up from 187,291 tons the previous month and 160,259 tons in December of the previous year. Distillers dried grains production reached 383,196 tons, up from 379,071 tons in November and 364,532 tons in December 2020. Distillers dried grains production reached 2.07 million tons, up from 2 million tons in November and 1.79 tons in December of the previous year. Distillers wet grains production reached 1.42 million tons, up from 1.33 million tons the previous month and 1.09 million tons the same month of the previous year. Modified distillers wet grains production reached 546,625 tons, up from 515,758 tons in November and 435,648 tons in December 2020.
Advertisement
At wet mills, corn germ meal production reached 63,314 tons, up from 61,842 tons in November and 47,715 tons in December 2020. Corn gluten feed production was at 285,387 tons, up from 278,434 tons the previous month, but down from 309,298 tons during the same month of the previous year. Corn gluten meal production fell to 107,003 tons, down from 110,303 tons in November and 113,754 tons in December 2020. Wet corn gluten feed production expanded to 214,346 tons, up from 211,260 tons in November and 185,187 tons in December of the previous year.
At dry and wet mills, carbon dioxide captured reached 251,666 tons, up from 219,586 tons in November and 185,563 tons in December 2020.
Related Stories
Metro Ports on April 8 announced significant environmental milestone in its voluntary efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. By switching to renewable diesel, the organization reduced its carbon emissions by 85%.
CoBank latest quarterly research report highlights current challenges facing the biobased diesel industry. The report cites policy uncertainty and trade disruptions due to tariff disputes as factors impacting biofuel producers.
The U.S. EIA on April 15 released its Annual Energy Outlook 2025, which includes energy trend projections through 2050. The U.S. DOE, however, is cautioning that the forecasts do not reflect the Trump administration’s energy policy changes.
The USDA on April 14 announced the cancellation of its Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program. Select projects that meet certain requirements may continue under a new Advancing Markets for Producers initiative.
The Michigan Advanced Biofuels Coalition and Green Marine are partnering to accelerating adoption of sustainable biofuels to improve air quality and reduce GHG emissions in Michigan and across the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway.
Upcoming Events
