Philippine domestic bioethanol reference price in H1 March climbs 8% on year

Singapore — The Philippines domestic ethanol reference prices in the first half of March rose 3.73% on a half monthly basis to Pesos 64.81/liter ($1,280/cu m) and 8.27% higher year on year, latest data released by the Sugar Regulatory Administration showed.

In H1 March, the average imported fuel ethanol price was at $440.26/cu m CIF Philippines, S&P Global Platts data showed, which remained less than half of locally produced ethanol prices and was down from $465.8/cu m CIF Philippines in H1 February.

Despite the fall in imported fuel ethanol prices, demand in Philippines was dismal.

"I had to delay shipment to Philippines due to the lockdown caused by the coronavirus outbreak. This will affect demand into the Q3," a market participant said. "Whatever offer prices are simply meaningless," he added.

Meanwhile, molasses cost jumped while sugar prices slumped.

For H1 March, Negros molasses price climbed 10% from H2 February to Peso 13,490.87/mt, which resulted in an equivalent feedstock cost of Peso 56.9/liter ($1,120/liter).

Price of sugar, fell 1.26% from H2 February to Pesos 1,521.24 lkg ($599/mt), resulting in lower equivalent feedstock at Pesos 28.14/liter (55 cents/liter) in H1 March.