IARN — Data from the Iowa Department of Revenue shows 2020 sales of E15 jumped 24% and set a new record in Iowa.
Iowa retailers sold 60.59 million gallons of E15 in 2020, up from 48.96 million gallons in 2019 and more than double the 2017 volume of E15 sales. Monte Shaw is executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association. He says E15 sales grew in Iowa despite a 14.3% drop in the state’s overall motor gasoline consumption from 2019 levels.
“That’s a significant jump,” Shaw said. “To increase your sales basically 25% in one year for the E15 blend is great. If there is a downside to that, it’s because it started as a very small number. We’re still very small, only about 5% of overall sales are E15, so we have a tremendous amount of growth opportunity there. Here’s the good news. What those numbers really reflect is we’ve had additional retailers take advantage of the grant program Iowa has and install E15 as an option for their consumers. When they do that and they market it properly, which we help them with, what we see is really great sales. It’s higher octane and it’s lower cost. What’s not to like?”
For more on this story, including the complete interview with Monte Shaw, visit the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network.
