US Grains Council promotes ethanol as SAF feedstock in Southeast Asia

The U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council on July 24 promoted ethanol as a sustainable aviation fuel feedstock to 120 bioenergy stakeholders, extending its Southeast Asia export pitch. On April 10, 2025, ASEAN said Southeast Asia could become a global hub for SAF, with a regional outlook that saw production in ASEAN surpass regional demand and support exports within and beyond the bloc.

In September 2024, the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials published a sustainable feedstock assessment for SAF production in Southeast Asia, and in December 2024 IRENA released Sustainable aviation fuels in Southeast Asia: A regional perspective on bio-based solutions. The publications placed bio-based SAF, including ethanol-derived pathways, in the region’s aviation decarbonization planning.

The council has focused its pitch on Vietnam and the Philippines. In Vietnam, it had previously discussed ethanol as an alternative aviation fuel and later said the country had expanded ethanol policy. Vietnam completed a nationwide E10 rollout in 2026, meaning all grades of gasoline sold in the country contained ethanol.

In the Philippines, the council partnered with the Department of Transportation and Boeing for a SAF summit, where Steffen Mueller of the University of Illinois Chicago’s Energy Resources Center presented on international SAF certification pathways relevant to the country. The council’s Southeast Asia and Oceania team gathered support for E20 in the Philippines, and U.S. ethanol complements local Philippine ethanol production under the country’s nationwide E10 mandate.

In August 2025, the U.S. Grains Council changed its name to the U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council. Its Southeast Asia campaign has also run through technical fuel workshops in Vietnam and the Philippines, plus appearances in Singapore, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam.