INTERVIEW: Brazil's Be8 shifts to other residual fats as tallow exports soar

Brazilian biodiesel producer Be8 is shifting away from beef tallow toward other residual feedstocks as the animal fat returns to the export market, Commercial Director Ricardo Reckziegel told Platts in an interview at the Fenagra conference held in São Paulo.

The producer has specialized in processing various animal fats and oils, including technical corn oil, allowing it to maintain its residual feedstock share in its mix without competing for beef tallow volumes diverted to exports.

"It doesn't make sense for us to fight for a feedstock just for the sake of using it," Reckziegel said, pointing to this year's record soybean crop and strong crushing activity as sources of ample soybean oil supply.

Be8's feedstock mix is currently around 70% vegetable oil and 30% residual fats and oils, the executive said. According to ANP data, soybean oil accounted for 72% of Brazil's biodiesel feedstock mix in March, while beef tallow represented around 7%, and used cooking oil, 1%.

Brazilian beef tallow exports recovered to 35,943 metric tons in April, the highest monthly volume since August 2025, with 98.46% directed to the US, according to Brazil's Foreign Trade Secretariat. Export margins have been supported by firm US feedstock values, higher energy prices, and the US Renewable Fuel Standard 2026-27 proposal, which included record biomass-based diesel and advanced biofuel targets.

California window seen reopening in Q4; Europe route already running

While beef tallow already switched back to exports following bullish international energy markets, the switch for biodiesel exports requires more logistical organization, given the complexity of production, according to the director.

After exporting "good volumes" of biodiesel to the US in 2023 and 2024, Be8 saw shipments stall after the change in US administration and subsequent tariff measures. However, higher fossil diesel prices are making the US market attractive again, Reckziegel said, and the producer has used the export pause to secure a California Air Resources Board pathway certification.

Combined with the existing RIN incentive, the certification "will make this export even more viable," he said. Be8 expects shipments to California to resume in the fourth quarter of 2026, with some possibility of activity in the third quarter.

While the US route is being prepared, the European route is already running. Be8 was a pioneer in exporting technical corn oil, a coproduct of Brazil's expanding corn ethanol industry, but has increasingly redirected the feedstock to its own plants to produce biodiesel that qualifies under EU advanced-feedstock rules.

"We use the oil in specific plants to produce biodiesel eligible for European regulation, capturing a premium that makes the export route viable," Reckziegel said.

Marialva crush project parked

A planned soybean crushing plant in Marialva, Paraná, has been put on hold as Be8 prioritizes other investments, Reckziegel said. Recent acquisitions and the under-construction wheat ethanol unit in Passo Fundo have taken precedence for capital and engineering resources.

"It's not critical at this moment to have a crusher in Marialva," the executive said. Paraná is among the Brazilian states with the most comfortable feedstock availability, and a large consumer recently announced an investment in the region, further reducing the urgency.

Verticalization in the sector will continue in both directions -- biodiesel plants integrating crush capacity and crushers entering biodiesel -- but non-integrated biodiesel producers retain advantages, including feedstock flexibility and lower capital intensity.

Global soybean meal oversupply is an additional constraint. "Where do you place the [soybean] meal? Globally, there's a protein oversupply, so you need to develop markets that will take that product," Reckziegel said.

B16 mandate delay 'frustrating'

Furthermore, the Brazilian biodiesel sector is "frustrated" by the delay in implementing the B16 mandate, which was scheduled in law but has not been triggered, Reckziegel said.

"The sector got ready, we expanded productive capacity, we have availability, and the mandate didn't come," he said. Biodiesel currently offers a cost benefit versus imported diesel, the executive argued, but the case for higher blends extends beyond price. "Biodiesel is more than just cost at this moment. It's an investment in labor, jobs, GDP, income distribution to less centralized regions."