U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council (USGBC) staff and members joined USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service and USDA Under Secretary Luke J. Lindberg earlier this month for an Agricultural Trade Mission to Jakarta, Indonesia, targeting expanded markets for U.S. ethanol and coarse grain products.
The USGBC delegation included Vice President Cary Siffereth, Regional Director for Southeast Asia and Oceania Caleb Wurth and Deputy Regional Director Chris Markey, alongside representatives from Growth Energy, the Renewable Fuels Association and Marquis Energy.
Discussions with Indonesian government and private sector leaders focused on corn imports and ethanol industry development. The mission culminated in a USGBC-organized ethanol policy workshop for stakeholders in Indonesia and the Philippines, addressing regulatory alignment, pricing mechanisms, infrastructure readiness and feedstock diversification.
The workshop follows Indonesia’s late-2025 announcement of a mandatory E10 fuel blending policy to be implemented no later than 2028.
“Indonesia’s 10-billion-gallon gasoline market represents significant potential for E10 and the meaningful economic, environmental and energy security benefits it will create,” said Wurth.
Guest speakers from the Philippines Department of Energy, where E10 is already the standard blend, emphasized the importance of predictable policy frameworks and coordinated public-private collaboration.
