Indonesia's total biodiesel exports increased in 2022 compared to 2021 but the country's used cooking oil (UCO) sales declined on the year.
Indonesia exported a total of 436,000t biodiesel during 2022, more than doubling from the 181,000t in 2021, according to GTT data.
China was the largest buyer, receiving about 234,000t throughout the year.
The negative palm oil-gas oil (POGO) spread during the second half of 2022 could have spurred discretionary blending in China and hence demand. The spread hit its lowest in September at -$248.24/t and the second lowest in July at -$246/t since Argus records began.
Indonesia's biodiesel, which is mostly palm-based, is suitable for use in the northern hemisphere summer as its cold filter plugging point (CFPP) is 15°C. China's purchase of biodiesel also picked up between June and September, when the country experiences warm weather.
The Netherlands was the second-biggest buyer of Indonesian biodiesel during the year with around 98,000t bought. Peru was the third-largest buyer for the year, with some 44,000t purchased.
Total exports to the EU rose in 2022 compared with the previous year, even as the EU seeks to phase out all palm-based biodiesel by 2030 and several member states including France and Belgium have already banned palm oil in their fuel mix.
But Indonesia is still looking to wean off dependency on the European market as exports to the bloc are expected to fall further this year as more EU member states — most notably Germany — ban the use of palm oil.
Indonesia has mandated to blend 35pc of biodiesel (B35) in road transport fuels from 1 February. The total B35 biodiesel allocation will reach some 13.15mn kilolitres, according to the chief executive of the Indonesia Biofuel Producer Association (APROBI), Paulus Tjakrawan in a seminar on B35 implementation.
Indonesian UCO exports declined by some 37pc to 218,000t in 2022 from 346,000t in 2021.
Malaysia was the biggest buyer, taking around 72,200t, as UCO volumes tend to be exported to the country for consolidation before being shipped overseas.
Spain was the second-largest buyer, importing some 60,300t, and Singapore came in third, buying about 35,000t.
But UCO exports rose in December by some 79pc to 21,700t from 12,100t in November.
The top three buyers were Singapore, which imported about 6,800t, followed by Spain purchasing some 5,200t, and Malaysia rounding off the list with 5,200t.
| Indonesia biofuels, feedstocks exports (t) | ||||||||
| Dec '22 | Nov'22 | % ± m-o-m | Dec '21 | % ±y-o-y | Jan-Dec 2022 | Jan-Dec 2021 | % ± y-o-y | |
| Exports | ||||||||
| Biodiesel | 37,993 | 21,591 | 75.97% | 18,950 | 100.49% | 435,931 | 180,749 | 141.18% |
| UCO | 21,692 | 12,085 | 79.50% | 34,249 | -36.66% | 217,659 | 346,178 | -37.13% |
| Source: GTT |
