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Argentina’s agriculture minister Luis Etchevehere has held talks with his counterpart, US agriculture secretary Sonny Purdue, to discuss issues including the duties imposed on Argentine biodiesel exports.
UK biomethane producers may soon get clarity from the UK government on whether they will have flexibility for projects to pursue credits from the Renewable Fuels Transport Obligation instead of just claiming subsidies under the Renewable Heating Initiative.
Bids and offers for Year 11 RTFCs were heard bracketing either side of traded levels this week, with bids heard at 18 p, offers heard at 19 p and trades at 18.5 p/certificate.
US ethanol exports in March were the second-biggest ever for a monthly total, totalling 215.1 million gallons (mg), according to government data released this week and analysed by the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA).
Sales of new cars in the EU in the first quarter showed a further decline in market share of diesel cars in favour of petrol, a trend that suggests demand for biodiesel will likely be lower than had been estimated at the time when many producers added new capacity.
Negotiations between Argentina and the United States regarding US import taxes on Argentine biofuels imports are not making any progress, according to a consultant with Argentinian biofuels lobby Carbio.
With little in the way of trading activity to herald movement, RTFC values were unchanged week-on-week, with Year 10 at 13 p/certificate, and Year 11 at 18 p/certificate.
The controversial use of waivers to excuse some US fuel suppliers from fulfilling their biofuel blending obligations may have cut at least 1.6 billion gallons of biofuels from the anticipated mandates in 2016 and 2017, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) said Tuesday.
Argentina exported just 40,000 mt of biodiesel in February, versus 214,000 mt in January as fears over potential EU duties deterred flows, the latest statistics from Argentina’s Ministry of Energy showed.
First full week of the new RTFO and activity remained muted, with much of direction drawn from the mineral oil complex, which saw fresh upward momentum take gasoil prices to new heights.
Veolia, one of the world's largest environmental services conglomerates, has launched a new trading platform in the UK to buy and sell raw materials and biofuels, a move that could bring greater transparency to the burgeoning market for bio-energy feedstocks.
Canada has the potential to buy up to 200,000 mt of biodiesel per year from Argentine producers, but this new market would be far too small to compensate for lost business in the US, an industry source said this week.
The final week of the old RTFO arrangements saw a familiar issue affecting the UK’s arrangements, as geopolitics supported crude oil prices which filtered through into refined product prices – not least diesel, which saw sharp increases mid-week.
Vivergo’s 420 million litre/year bioethanol plant in north-eastern England will restart production after a four-month shutdown, in view of recent government legislation to raise the mandate for biofuels, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
German biodiesel producer Natural Energy West (NEW) said April 9 it will halve output at its 240,000mt/year plant in Marl, citing the impact of cheap imports from Argentina and Indonesia in the wake of rulings on EU antidumping duties.
The sharp rise in Argentine soybean prices may make soy methyl ester (SME) and biodiesel more expensive in the EU, but higher prices are unlikely to be enough to materially affect demand for these imports that benefit from low export taxes and the recent removal of EU antidumping duties.
With the RTFO in its penultimate week before the UK’s mandate increases from 4.75% to 7.25%, a long weekend and domestic holidays collectively dampened activity in the certificate markets.
Argentina produced 80,632 cubic metres of bioethanol in January, down 3,713 cu m or 4.4% versus the equivalent month in 2017, according to data from the Ministry of Energy.
Argentine biofuels exports are expected to fall nearly 60% this year to approximately 500,000 mt, Gustavo Idigoras, a consultant with Argentine biofuels lobby Carbio, told Energy Census this week.
CropEnergies, the Germany-based operator of the UK's biggest operating bioethanol plant, has reported increased profits on the back of year-on-year production increases.