Brazil to cut biodiesel blend mandate to 10pc
Brazilian oil regulator ANP plans to temporarily reduce the mandatory biodiesel blend in diesel to 10pc from 13pc because of concerns about the impact on the inflation rate and discontent among truck drivers.
The move comes after biofuel prices soared 60pc in a now-suspended auction that started earlier this week, two sources who participated in meetings with the government told Argus. The mandate reduction would be valid during May and June.
ANP suspended the tender on 6 April at the start of a new bidding round for small-scale producers. Average prices in the first hours of the 79th biodiesel auction reached R7.50/l ($5.08/USG), up by 60pc from the final price of the previous auction, R4.70/l. The price of 10ppm sulphur content (S10) diesel at Brazil's largest refinery Replan is currently R2.79/l.
Biodiesel prices are rising because of successive feedstock price increases and depreciation of the Brazilian real to the dollar since the last auction on 5 February. Soybean oil prices in Sao Paulo jumped to R7,500/t cif on 26 March, up by 26pc from 5 February. Prices were boosted by a 5.8pc depreciation of the Brazilian real to the US dollar over that period as well as beef tallow prices that soared by 30pc to R7,000/t cif.
Producers and distributors recently surveyed by Argus had expected prices to rise by 17pc at this week's auction, meant to supply biodiesel to the market for May and June.
ANP said it "cautiously suspended" the auction "as requested by the mines and energy ministry." The mines and energy ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
The energy ministry convened at least three emergency meetings with plant representatives to analyze the current supply and pricing scenario. The ministry proposed a reduction in the blending mandate for May and June amid recent political tensions over rising diesel prices and its consequences for inflation, transport costs and rising discontent among truck drivers.
A source who attended the meetings told Argus that the producers were under intense pressure to accept a reduction in the blending mandate after technicians from the chief of staff and the energy ministry argued that the price increases would be unsustainable.
The government saw the reduction as critical, in part because its March suspension of the PIS/Cofins federal tax on diesel will soon expire. The federal tax should be restored on 1 May, prompting government concerns about the combined effects on retail diesel prices from the tax restoration and rising biodiesel prices.
Reducing the diesel mixture to 10pc comes less than a month after mines and minister Bento Albuquerque committed to adding 13pc of biodiesel to fossil fuel in an event that brought together the presidents of the associations of vegetable oil industries Abiove, biofuel producers Aprobio and biodiesel producers Ubrabio.
Sources from the fuel retail segment told Argus that the reduction of the biodiesel content seemed to be the best solution to reduce the price in the short run.
Brazil's biodiesel supply is negotiated in bimonthly tenders organized by ANP, a model which should come to an end in 2022 as Brazil migrates toward a free market model. Diesel consumption reached 974,400b/d in May-June 2019, which means that reducing the biodiesel content by three percentage points would have shifted 29,230b/d from biodiesel to diesel at the time.
Related news posts
US job growth nearly halved in April: Update
US job growth nearly halved in April: Update
Adds services PMI in first, fifth paragraphs, factory PMI reference in sixth paragraph. Houston, 3 May (Argus) — The US added fewer jobs in April as the unemployment rate ticked up and average earnings growth slowed, signs of gradually weakening labor market conditions. A separate survey showed the services sector contracted last month. The US added 175,000 jobs in April, the Labor Department reported today, fewer than the 238,000 analysts anticipated. That compared with an upwardly revised 315,000 jobs in March and a downwardly revised 236,000 jobs in February. The unemployment rate ticked up to 3.9pc from 3.8pc. The unemployment rate has ranged from 3.7-3.9pc since August 2023, near the five-decade low of 3.4pc. The latest employment report comes after the Federal Reserve on Wednesday held its target lending rate unchanged for a sixth time and signaled it would be slower in cutting rates from two-decade highs as the labor market has remained "strong" and inflation, even while easing, is "still too high". US stocks opened more than 1pc higher today after the jobs report and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.47pc. Futures markets showed odds of a September rate cut rose by about 10 percentage points to about 70pc after the report. Services weakness Another report today showed the biggest segment of the economy contracted last month. The Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) services purchasing managers index (PMI) fell to 49.4 in April from 51.4 in March, ending 15 months of expansion. The services PMI employment index fell to 45.9, the fourth contraction in five months, in today's report. Readings below 50 signal contraction. On 1 May, ISM reported that the manufacturing PMI fell to 49.2 in April, after one month of growth following 16 months of contraction. In today's employment report from the Labor Department, average hourly earnings grew by 3.9pc over the 12 month period, down from 4.1pc in the period ended in March. Job gains in the 12 months through March averaged 242,000. Gains, including revisions, averaged 276,000 in the prior three-month period. Job gains occurred in health care, social services and transportation and warehousing. Health care added 56,000 jobs, in line with the gains over the prior 12 months. Transportation and warehousing added 22,000, also near the 12-month average. Retail trade added 20,000. Construction added 9,000 following 40,000 in March. Government added 8,000, slowing from an average of 55,000 in the prior 12 months. Manufacturing added 9,000 jobs after posting 4,000 jobs the prior month. Mining and logging lost 3,000 jobs. By Bob Willis Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
US biofuel groups challenge EU SAF regulation
US biofuel groups challenge EU SAF regulation
London, 3 May (Argus) — US biofuel groups Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy and US Grains Council and ethanol-to-jet producer LanzaJet have joined European renewable ethanol producers in their challenge to the ReFuelEU aviation regulation. The legal challenge, launched by ePure and Pannonia Bio in February, demands an annulment of the sections that exclude crop-based biofuels from the definition of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The regulation allows for SAF produced from biofuels, referring to point 33 in Article 2 of the bloc's recast Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) which includes "liquid fuel for transport produced from biomass". But it excludes biofuels produced from "food and feed crops". The US groups have filed an "application for leave to intervene" before the General Court of the EU, arguing that the regulation would "have a detrimental effect on the US ethanol industry". "The contested provisions give rise to a de facto ban on the supply of crop-based biofuels to the aviation sector in the EU" the associations said. Earlier this year ePure also challenged the bloc's FuelEU maritime regulation, which aims to boost the use of green bunker fuels, for excluding food and feed crop-based fuels from its certification process. By Evelina Lungu Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
US job growth nearly halved in April
US job growth nearly halved in April
Houston, 3 May (Argus) — The US added fewer jobs in April as the unemployment rate ticked up and average earnings growth fell, signs of gradually weakening labor market conditions. The US added 175,000 jobs in April, the Labor Department reported today, fewer than the 238,000 analysts anticipated. That compared with an upwardly revised 315,000 jobs in March and a downwardly revised 236,000 jobs in February. The unemployment rate ticked up to 3.9pc from 3.8pc. The unemployment rate has ranged from 3.7-3.9pc since August 2023, near the five-decade low of 3.4pc. The latest employment report comes after the Federal Reserve on Wednesday held its target lending rate unchanged for a sixth time and signaled it would be slower in cutting rates from two-decade highs as the labor market has remained "strong" and inflation, even while easing, is "still too high". US stocks opened more than 1pc higher today after the jobs report and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.47pc. Futures markets showed odds of a September rate cut rose by about 10 percentage points to about 70pc after the report. Average hourly earnings grew by 3.9pc over the 12 month period, down from 4.1pc in the period ended in March. Job gains in the 12 months through March averaged 242,000. Gains, including revisions, averaged 276,000 in the prior three-month period. Job gains occurred in health care, social services and transportation and warehousing. Health care added 56,000 jobs, in line with the gains over the prior 12 months. Transportation and warehousing added 22,000, also near the 12-month average. Retail trade added 20,000. Construction added 9,000 following 40,000 in March. Government added 8,000, slowing from an average of 55,000 in the prior 12 months. Manufacturing added 9,000 jobs after posting 4,000 jobs the prior month. Mining and logging lost 3,000 jobs. By Bob Willis Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Oregon renewable diesel pours into CFP bank
Oregon renewable diesel pours into CFP bank
Houston, 2 May (Argus) — Rising renewable diesel deliveries helped grow the volume of Oregon Clean Fuels Program (CFP) credits available for future compliance by a record 30pc in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to state data released today. The roughly 253,000 metric tonne (t) increase in available credits from the previous quarter — bringing the total to 1.1mn t — illustrates the spreading influence of US renewable diesel capacity on markets offering the most incentives for their output. California and Oregon low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) credit prices have tumbled as renewable diesel deliveries generate a surge of credits in excess of immediate deficit needs. LCFS credits do not expire. LCFS programs require yearly reductions to transportation fuel carbon intensity. Higher-carbon fuels that exceed the annual limits incur deficits that suppliers must offset with credits generated from the distribution to the market of approved, lower-carbon alternatives. Renewable diesel volumes in Oregon increased by 12pc from the previous quarter to about 37,000 b/d — more than double the volume reported in the fourth quarter of 2022. The fuel represented 24pc of the Oregon liquid diesel pool for the period, while petroleum diesel fell to 75pc. Renewable diesel generated 46pc of all new credits for the quarter, compared to the 14pc from the next-highest contributor, biodiesel. Deficit generation meanwhile shrank from the previous quarter. Gasoline deficits fell by 6.6pc from the third quarter as consumption fell by roughly the same amount. Gasoline use trailed the fourth quarter of 2022 by 7.1pc. Diesel deficits also shrank as renewable alternatives push it out of the Oregon market. Petroleum diesel deficits fell by 19pc from the previous quarter and consumption was 27pc lower than the fourth quarter of 2022. Spot Oregon credits have fallen by half since late September, when state data offered the first indications that renewable diesel that was already inundating the California market had found its way to the smaller Oregon pool. The quarter marks the first time Oregon credits available for future compliance have exceeded 1mn t. Oregon in 2022 approved program targets extending into next decade that target a 20pc reduction by 2030 and a 37pc reduction by 2035. An ongoing rulemaking process this year will consider changes to how the state calculates the carbon intensity of fuels and verifies the activity of participants, but will not touch annual targets. By Elliott Blackburn Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Business intelligence reports
Get concise, trustworthy and unbiased analysis of the latest trends and developments in oil and energy markets. These reports are specially created for decision makers who don’t have time to track markets day-by-day, minute-by-minute.
Learn more