Houston (Platts)--29Nov2012/416 pm EST/2116 GMT
US ethanol and advanced biofuel monthly production increased in October, according to US Environmental Protection Agency data Thursday. US ethanol production -- categorized by the EPA in the renewable fuel (D6) category consisting of corn-based ethanol, the main type produced in the US -- rebounded from the previous month's lowest recorded level as it climbed 71.629 million gallons, or 7.3%, to 1.055 billion gallons, according to the EPA data, on the agency's Moderated Tracking System website. Year-to-date, current year ethanol production totaled 10.884 billion gallons. The 2012 ethanol production target for the Renewable Fuels Standard-2 mandate is 11.7 billion gallons. With only two months left in 2012, year-to-date ethanol production is at 93% of the 2012 mandate target. October advanced biofuel (D5) production -- mostly comprising ethanol derived from feedstock sugarcane -- edged up 98,212 gallons, or 0.1%, to 77.497 million gallons. Year-to-date, however, current year production was at only 392.846 million gallons. The 2012 advanced biofuel target for the Renewable Fuels Standard-2 is 2 billion gallons, which means that total domestic advanced biofuel production in 2012 was at 19.6% of the mandate target. Although domestic advanced biofuel production faces a tough challenge the rest of the year to catch up to the mandate, imports from Brazil, where ethanol is derived from feedstock sugarcane, can help meet the mandate target.--Shameek Ghosh, shameek_ghosh@platts.com--Edited by Richard Rubin, richard_rubin@platts.com