Corn-based ethanol production is projected to fall over the next 10 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This trend reflects declining overall gasoline consumption in the United States, which is mostly a 10-percent ethanol blend (E10), as well as infrastructural and other constraints on growth for 15-percent ethanol blends (E15), and the small size of the market for 85-percent ethanol blends (E85), less-than-offsetting increases in U.S. ethanol exports.
However, even with the U.S. ethanol production decline, demand for corn to produce ethanol continues to be strong. While the share of U.S. corn expected to go to U.S. ethanol production falls, it accounts for over a third of total U.S. corn use throughout the projection period.
This following chart is based on information in USDA Agricultural Projections to 2025.
