Platts launches Brazilian biodiesel term contract indices July 1

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, has launched eight bi-monthly regional biodiesel contract indices in Brazil, effective July 1, 2025. Platts has also started using these bi-monthly fees to calculate and publish daily term contract prices per region.

Platts understands that the Brazilian biodiesel term contract market accounts for approximately 90% of transacted volumes in the sector, with the spot market representing the remaining volume. Given this significant market share, the new indices will bring greater transparency for comparing average term contract logistical fees and outright biodiesel prices across regions.

Bi-monthly term contract fee indices

The contract fee is associated with the producer's margin and primarily reflects the distance of the plant from fuel distribution centers. It is part of a typical price formula that also considers soybean oil future contracts on the Chicago Board of Trade, the differential of vegetable oil at the Paranagua port, and the Brazilian real-US dollar exchange rate. This negotiation practice dates to when biofuel was sold through public auctions, ending in late 2021. Since January 2022, participants have traded biofuels more directly.

The Platts biodiesel indices incorporate region-specific term contract fees averaged from data submitted by market participants. This data is used to calculate and publish a bi-monthly average fee for each specified region. Platts analyzes the submitted information and may contact the price submitter for clarification on potentially anomalous data and/or exclude such data from the indices calculation.

Market participants wishing to submit term contract fee data can do so by emailing the Platts Biofuels editorial team at brazilbiodiesel@spglobal.com. The cutoff for data submission is 13:00 hours Sao Paolo time, on the last working day of the previous bi-monthly period.

Platts updates the term contract fees for each of the eight regions every two months, on the first business day of each bimester (January, March, May, July, September, and November).

The eight regional indices and associated Platts symbols are:

Daily biodiesel contract price

In addition to publishing bi-monthly contract fees, Platts has also started calculating and publishing a daily ExW (ex-works) contract price that reflects biodiesel cargoes transported via fuel tanker truck or rail tanker per region, incorporating the Platts soybean oil price assessments and the regional contract fee indices.

The daily biodiesel contract price is calculated using the following components:

The new biodiesel contract prices follow the Platts Sao Paulo publishing schedule and are available in Biofuelscan, Biomass-Based Diesel Report, and on Platts Biofuels Alert. They are published in the Platts price database under the following symbols:

Prices are published in Brazilian reais per cubic meter, with relevant conversions applied, including adjustments for biodiesel density.

Please send all feedback, comments, or questions to mrts_biofuelsandfeedstocks@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com.

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