Bioethanol market data for 2022: Increase in bioethanol production │ Significantly higher sales of Super E10

Berlin, 21 March 2023: The German Bioethanol Industry Association (BDBe) has published the 2022 market data for the production and consumption of certified sustainable bioethanol in Germany. Domestic bioethanol production increased slightly compared to the previous year and amounted to more than 715,000 tonnes in 2022. Sales of Super E10 rose steeply.

In a fuel market that continued to rebound in 2022, with sales of 17.0 million tonnes of petrol, a figure roughly 3.5% higher than in the previous year (2021: 16.5 million tonnes), bioethanol consumption also increased slightly. The amount of ethanol and ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE), which is produced from ethanol and used as a fuel additive in Super E10, Super Plus and Super E5, increased by 2.9% to just under 1.19 million tonnes in 2022 (2021: 1.15 million tonnes). Around 131,000 tonnes of bioethanol were used for ETBE production, which is equivalent to 16.6% less than in 2021 (nearly 157,000 tonnes). At the same time, admixtures of bioethanol to petrol increased significantly and amounted to 1.05 million tonnes (+ 6.0% compared to the previous year).  The amount of bioethanol used for fuel purposes remained unchanged at 6.6% by volume.

There was a considerable increase in sales of Super E10: its market share increased markedly from 17.2% in 2021 to almost 24% in 2022. The absolute sales volume of Super E10 was over 4.0 million tonnes (+42.9%). This figure was 2.8 million tonnes the previous year. At 12.2 million tonnes in 2022, Super E5 achieved a market share of nearly 72.0%. In the previous year, the 12.7 million tonnes of Super E5 sold represented a market share of 77.2%.

Super Plus had a market share of 4.5% in 2022, well below the previous year’s level of 5.6% (-163,000 tonnes).

Despite volatile energy and raw material prices, German bioethanol producers increased their production slightly last year by 2.0% to over 715,000 tonnes (2021: 701,000 tonnes).

The production of bioethanol from sugar beet pulp declined sharply by 39.8% in 2022 compared to the previous year, while the production of bioethanol from feed grain increased by 10.8%. Last year, a total of 790,000 tonnes of sugar beet and 2.7 million tonnes of feed grain were processed in German biorefineries into sustainably certified bioethanol and valuable protein animal feeds as well as other products for the food and animal feed industries. The production process also yielded organic fertiliser, biogas and biogenic carbonic acid for beverages and other uses.

In Germany, the greenhouse gas reduction quota, which will gradually increase until 2030, has been 8.0% since the beginning of this year and is set to rise to 9.25% next year. This, along with the exclusion of palm oil-based biofuels from the quota, will ensure stable bioethanol consumption this year.

According to the BDBe, the strong increase in sales of the climate-friendly fuel Super E10 is evidence of increased environmental awareness and consumer confidence as well as the importance of sustainable bioethanol for affordable climate change mitigation in the transport sector.

You can find the detailed market data 2022 with additional infographics and facts on production and consumption of bioethanol in our Market Data Report. http://www.bdbe.de/daten/marktdaten-deutschland