Biofuels: Trade, Demand, and Production
Author
Published
7/28/2026
The combination of state and federal policies like the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) along with financial incentives, and market volatility have driven or influenced numerous changes within the biofuels industry. The demand for corn and soybeans, both primary feedstocks for biofuels like ethanol, biodiesel, and renewable diesel has drastically changed over time. Despite domestic demand for renewable fuels, the export markets also plays a major role in corn and soybean markets. While corn is largely a domestic demand crop and soybeans are heavily influenced by export markets, from the perspective of biofuels these two crops and their byproducts have a few interesting trends emerging.
Corn
Domestic use of corn is largely driven by livestock feed and ethanol production (Figure 1). Corn exports remained relatively stable throughout most of...
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