Ethanol study finds market ‘unconcentrated’

WASHINGTON — The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) 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 Sept. 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.