“Our objective for every trade mission is to create new markets for farm products made in rural America,” USDA Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Michael Scuse said in a statement. “U.S. ethanol exports to China have jumped from $8 million to more than $86 million since our May 2014 visit. In October, we exported more ethanol to China than in the previous 10 years combined.”
According to data from FAS, U.S. exports of ethanol to China through the first 10 months of 2015 have reached $86.84 million. The previous record was 2013, when China imported $11.07 million worth of ethanol from the United States.
China is the largest customer for U.S. agricultural exports. According to USDA data, China has accounted for $15 billion of the United States’ $109 billion in agricultural product exports this year.