Majority of US ethanol fuel production relies on six states

Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, and South Dakota collectively represent 72 percent of U.S. fuel ethanol production, according to recent estimates from the Energy Information Administration.

That amounts to 265 million barrels of fuel from the total 367 million produced by the United States in 2016. A large part of this is that these states are also among the top 10 U.S. corn producers, which serves as the primary feedstock for ethanol plants. Their production has also grown heavily since 2006 — in that decade between then and this report, fuel ethanol production doubled in the United States. Export growth is now fueling that growth further.

Iowa hosts 41 ethanol plants producing more than 102 million barrels of fuel per year and holds the highest portion of the market — 19 percent of total U.S. ethanol production capacity. It is followed by Nebraska, which owns 26 ethanol plants capable of producing more than 50 million barrels. Illinois has 13 plants but is capable of 40 million barrels of production annually. Minnesota’s 19 plants reach only 28 million barrels each year. Indiana and South Dakota hold 14 and 15 plants, respectively, with each able to produce more than 27 million barrels annually.