BusinessWorld December 11, 2020 | 7:29 pm Philippine fuel consumption is expected to decline 18% in 2020, due to restrictions on transportation ordeed during the lockdown, the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service said. “The months of business and school closures and movement restrictions had a significant impact on fuel demand; (the USDA representative in Manila) estimates that overall fuel consumption in 2020 will drop 18% compared to 2019,” the USDA said in its annual biofuels report. It added that fuel use by road vehicles, which include ethanol-gasoline and biodiesel, is expected to drop by “over 20% due to the significant restrictions on transportation.” The Manila USDA representative “expects a decline in the Philippines’ ethanol-gasoline and on-road biodiesel-diesel pools of 16 and 21% from 2019 to 2020, respectively,” the USDA said.