IEA report says biofuel production dropped for first time in 20 years due to pandemic

In France, the latest report from the International Energy Agency says the biofuels industry has been strongly impacted by the Covid‑19 pandemic. Global transport biofuel production in 2020 is anticipated to be 144 billion liters (L), equivalent to 2.480 billion barrels per day– an 11.6% drop from 2019’s record output and the first reduction in annual production in two decades.

While this projection is a slight upward revision from the IEA forecast update in May, it is far below the 3% growth anticipated for 2020 in our pre-pandemic forecast. The greatest year-on-year (y-o-y) drops in output are for US and Brazilian ethanol, and European biodiesel.