Earlier this month, Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor was part of a trade mission to Mexico City led by the USDA.
During the three days in Mexico, Skor met with government officials and industry stakeholders to talk about the benefits of E10.
“They’ve recently opened up to a 10 percent blend—they hadn’t been using ethanol before,” said Skor. “How do we get Mexico to a point where it’s like the United States where ethanol is great for the rural economic development. Something very important to the president of Mexico is affordable gas prices for his consumers.”
Mexico’s three largest cities Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey all have E-10 restrictions on them. There are other proponents for the E10 push in these urban areas.
“It’s a combination for Mexico—similar to the United States,” she said. “They want affordable gasoline and they want to use ethanol to spur rural economic development.”
Skor said a lot of the conversation was about education, and that the U.S. is open for trade.
“While you build up your ability to manufacture ethanol domestically, we are a great trading partner,” said Skor. “We can certainly provide the extra and backfill for you. It’s a great relationship because we share this border, so it’s very easy to get us ethanol down to Mexico.”
Mexico wants to develop their own capabilities, but Skor said this would be a very good opportunity to export gallons.
“If the entire country of Mexico were to operate at a 10 percent blend, that’s 1.2 billion gallons of ethanol, and for many producers [in the U.S.] right now, they understand what even a portion of that demand would look like,” she said. “It would help for many of our plants that have idled as a result of what’s going on with domestic demand.”
Skor said passing USMCA won’t do anything for market access with Mexico, but it will be beneficial for U.S.-Mexico relations.
