The Spanish blend rate for ethanol in gasoline dropped sharply in June.
The rate of 3.25pc by volume was the lowest since September 2016 and the second lowest since January 2009, according to strategic reserve Cores. This meant ethanol demand was a little over 10,000t in the month, a decline of 41pc year on year, compared with a drop in gasoline consumption of 23pc on the year to 350,000t (100,000 b/d).
Spain combines all biofuels — biodiesel, hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO) and ethanol — into a single target. Blenders can create tickets by overblending biodiesel, a market around four times larger that for gasoline in Spain. HVO production and blending has remained consistent during the Covid-19 pandemic and blenders say it is likely some extra HVO blending has tempered the need to use ethanol. While HVO can essentially be blended without limit into diesel, ethanol can be blended to a maximum of 7pc in calorific terms.
Just under 70,000t of ethanol was blended into gasoline in the first half of the year, or just under 4pc by volume, compared with over 105,000t blended in January-June last year.
Apparent output — assessed using import, export and demand — was 20,000t, up from 18,000t in May. Dominant domestic producer Vertex cut output in April as demand fell because of pandemic-related movement restrictions. Production appears to have been stable in July and so far in August. Shipping records show cargoes moved by Vertex from its units at Coruna and Cartagena, including 4,000t from the former to Huelva at the start of this month.
