FTC Issues Annual Report on Ethanol Market Concentration 2022

"This Report presents the Federal Trade Commission’s (“Commission” or “FTC”) concentration analysis of the ethanol production industry for 2022.1 The report includes certain data and information from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (“EIA”), industry participants, and other sources.2 Section 1501(a)(2) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 requires that the FTC annually “perform a market concentration analysis of the ethanol production industry . . . to determine whether there is sufficient competition among industry participants to avoid price-setting and other anticompetitive behavior.”3 Pursuant to the statute, the FTC must measure concentration using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (“HHI”) and consider all marketing arrangements among industry participants in preparing its analysis.4 Also pursuant to the statute, the FTC delivers its report to Congress and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) by December 1 of each year.

The HHI is a measure of market concentration. A given market’s HHI is the sum of the squares of the individual market shares of all market participants.5 As in previous reports, FTC staff (“staff”) analyzed concentration based on U.S. ethanol production capacity and actual production of ethanol. Staff’s analysis does not address whether ethanol production in any geographic area constitutes a relevant antitrust market; instead, it calculates concentration on a nationwide basis, based on ethanol production capacity and actual ethanol production. For both measures, HHIs are calculated for producers and marketers. For both production capacity and actual production, concentration for producer shares is lower than concentration for marketer shares. Based on production capacity, the HHIs are 545 for producer-based shares and 869 for marketer-based shares. Based on actual production, the HHIs are 516 for producer-based shares and 922 for marketer-based shares. HHIs attributed to producers decreased from last year, while HHIs attributed to marketers increased.."
Ethanol 

FTC Issues Annual Report on Ethanol Market Concentration 2021

"The Federal Trade Commission has issued its 2021 Report on Ethanol Market Concentration. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 directs the Commission to perform an annual review of market concentration in the ethanol production industry “to determine whether there is sufficient competition among industry participants to avoid price-setting and other anticompetitive behavior.”

As in prior years, the 2021 report concludes that “[t]he low level of concentration and large number of market participants in the U.S. ethanol production industry continue to suggest that the exercise of market power to set prices, or coordinate on price or output levels, is unlikely on a nationwide basis.”  The Commission vote to approve the report was 4-0.

The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition, and protect and educate consumers. You can learn more about how competition benefits consumers or file an antitrust complaint.  For the latest news and resources, follow the FTC on social media, subscribe to press releases and read our blog..."
Ethanol 

FTC Issues Annual Report on Ethanol Market Concentration 2018

"The Federal Trade Commission has issued its 2018 Report on Ethanol Market Concentration. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 directs the Commission to perform an annual review of market concentration in the ethanol production industry “to determine whether there is sufficient competition among industry participants to avoid price-setting and other anticompetitive behavior.”

As in prior years, the 2018 report concludes that “the low level of concentration and large number of market participants in the U.S. ethanol production industry continue to suggest that the exercise of market power to set prices, or coordinate on price or output levels, is unlikely.”

The Commission vote to approve the report was 4-0-1, with Commissioner Christine S. Wilson not participating. (FTC File No. P063000; the staff contact is Catharine Bill, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2966.)

The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition, and protect and educate consumers. You can learn more about how competition benefits consumers or file an antitrust complaint. Like the FTC on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, read our blogs, and subscribe to press releases for the latest FTC news and resources.."
Ethanol

FTC Issues Annual Report On Ethanol Market Concentration

"The Federal Trade Commission has issued its 2015 Report on Ethanol Market Concentration, an annual report required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 “to determine whether there is sufficient competition among industry participants to avoid price-setting and other anticompetitive behavior.”

As in prior years, the 2015 report concludes that it is “extremely unlikely that a single ethanol producer or marketer or a group of such firms could exercise market power to set prices or coordinate on price or output levels.”..."
Ethanol

Ethanol Market Concentration

"This Report presents the Federal Trade Commission’s (“Commission” or “FTC”)
concentration analysis of the ethanol production industry for 2014.  Section 1501(a)(2) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 requires the FTC each year to “perform a market concentration analysis of the ethanol production industry using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index to determine whether there is sufficient competition among industry participants to avoid price-setting and other anticompetitive behavior.”  The statute also requires the FTC to consider all marketing arrangements among industry participants in preparing its analysis.3
 The FTC must report its findings to Congress and to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) by December 1..."

Ethanol

U.S. Ethanol Market Remains Unconcentrated

"The market for fuel ethanol in the United States is unconcentrated, with 156 firms nationwide either producing ethanol or likely to begin producing ethanol in the next 12 to 18 months, according to the Federal Trade Commission’s 2013 Report on the State of U.S. Ethanol Production. The lack of market concentration in this industry has been the case each year since the FTC began issuing reports in 2005..."
Ethanol industry

2010 Report on Ethanol Market Concentration

Federal Trade Commission's 2010 report on the ethanol production industry.

FTC's 2010 Report Concludes U.S. Ethanol Market Still Unconcentrated
"The market for ethanol fuel in the United States is still unconcentrated, with 160 firms nationwide either producing ethanol or likely to be in production within the next 18 months, according to the Federal Trade Commission’s 2010 report on the state of U.S. ethanol production.

The FTC report is the agency’s sixth annual report on ethanol market concentration. In the report, staff calculated market concentration for the ethanol production industry using different measures. It concluded that as of September 2010, there were the same number of ethanol producers in the United States as were listed in the FTC’s 2009 report. The largest ethanol producer’s share of capacity increased slightly to 12 percent of domestic ethanol production capacity – above the 11 percent share in 2008 and 2009, but still below the largest producer’s capacity share, between 2000 and 2007, which ranged from 16 percent in 2007 to 41 percent in 2000..."

Commission Issues 2009 Report on U.S. Ethanol Market Concentration
"he Commission has issued the “2009 Report on Ethanol Market Concentration.” This is the FTC’s fifth annual report on the state of ethanol production in the United States, as required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The report concludes that the U.S. fuel ethanol market, measured either on the basis of production capacity or on actual production, remains unconcentrated.

As of September 2009, 160 firms produced ethanol in the United States – the same number as cited in the FTC’s 2008 report. In addition, the largest ethanol producer’s share of capacity remained the same, at 11 percent of domestic ethanol production capacity, down from 16 percent in 2007, 21 percent in 2006, 26 percent in 2005, and 41 percent in 2000..."
View the full report

The Impact of Ethanol Use on Food Prices and Greenhouse-Gas Emissions, April 2009
"The production and use of ethanol in the United States have been steadily
increasing since 2001, boosted in part by long-standing production subsidies.
That growth has exerted upward pressure on the price of corn and, ultimately, on the retail price of food, affecting both individual consumers and federal expenditures on nutritional support programs. It has also raised questions about the environmental consequences of replacing gasoline with ethanol.

This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis, which was prepared at the request
of Representatives Ron Kind, Rosa DeLauro, and James McGovern, examines the relationship between increasing production of ethanol and rising prices for food.
In particular, CBO estimated how much of the rise in food prices between April 2007 and April 2008 was due to an increase in the production of ethanol and how much that increase in prices might raise federal expenditures on food assistance programs.

CBO also examined how much the increased use of ethanol might lower emissions of greenhouse gases. In keeping with CBO’s mandate to provide objective, impartial analysis, the report contains no recommendations."

2008 Report on Ethanol Market Concentration
"Section 1501(a)(2) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, as codified at 42 U.S.C. § 7545(o),imposes an annual requirement on the Federal Trade Commission (“Commission” or “FTC”) to “perform a market concentration analysis of the ethanol production industry using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index [(“HHI”)] to determine whether there is sufficient competition among industry participants to avoid price-setting and other anticompetitive behavior.” The statute also requires that the FTC consider all marketing arrangements among industry participants in preparing its analysis. The FTC must report its findings to Congress and to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. This report presents the FTC’s concentration analysis of ethanol production for 2008. This report builds upon previous Commission reports on Ethanol Market Concentration, which contain relevant background information that is not repeated in this report."