<article><p class="lead">Malaysian used cooking oil (UCO) exports hit an all-time high of 99,000t in July, as demand for the biodiesel feedstock increased despite depressed transport fuel demand because of the Covid-19 pandemic.</p><p>July exports were more than double the 46,000t sold in June and 68pc higher than the 59,000t sold in July 2019. The UK, Singapore and the Netherlands were the biggest buyers taking 42,000t, 28,500t and 21,000t respectively.</p><p>Higher biodiesel mandates in Europe, along with UCO being double counted towards these targets, saw January-July exports rise to 294,000t from 225,000t for the same period last year.</p><p>But not all of the exports are domestically produced, with several trading firms having set up bulking capacity at Malaysian ports such as Pasir Gudang and Port Klang where they are able to collect regional supplies and ship them on to Europe.</p><p>Nearly 43,000t of UCO was imported in July, up from 24,000t during the same month last year but down from 51,000t in June. Supplies mostly came from China, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam and, unusually, Switzerland.</p><p>January-July imports rose by 142pc to 240,000t from 99,000t the previous year, aided by the bulking capacity but more UCO-based biodiesel capacity coming on line in Malaysia this year.</p><p>Malaysia's biodiesel exports more than doubled to 46,000t in July from 20,000t in June, although this was still half of the 91,000t sold a year earlier. January-July exports more than halved from a year earlier to 245,000t from 505,000t.</p><p>Depressed transport fuel demand because of Covid-19 restrictions, combined with higher feedstock palm oil costs, has pushed up prices and curbed biodiesel trade flows this year.</p><p>The Netherlands and Spain were the two biggest buyers of Malaysian biodiesel in July, taking 19,000t and 18,000t respectively, followed by Bulgaria with 5,000t and China with 4,000t.</p><p>July biodiesel imports trebled from the previous month and doubled from a year earlier to 23,000t, of which 16,000t came from Singapore and 6,000t from Indonesia.</p><p class="bylines">By Amandeep Parmar</p></article>
