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Сельское хозяйство

Argentina's Q1 biodiesel exports drop 57% on-year, amid weak energy

Сельское хозяйство

Platts Agriculture Alert (Новости Platts о сельском хозяйстве)

Argentina's Q1 biodiesel exports drop 57% on-year, amid weak energy

London — Members of Argentinian biofuels association CARBIO exported 90,587 mt of biodiesel in the first quarter of 2015, down 57% from the same period the previous year.

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CARBIO members account for the vast majority of exports from the country, giving a good indication of export volumes before official government data is released each quarter.

The percentage of production that was exported also dropped sharply, from 53.8% in Q1, 2014 to 27.3% this year.

The Q1 figure comprised 20,032 mt biodiesel exports in January, 32,750 mt in February and 37,805 mt in March.


Argentina's biodiesel exports have been affected in recent months by an unfavorable spread between feedstock soybean oil and downstream energy prices, known as BO-GO, after energy prices slumped at the end of 2014.

Since the EU introduced anti-dumping duties on biodiesel imports in November 2013, Argentinian producers have relied on being able to export biodiesel at prices that are attractive for blending into fossil fuels in countries without biofuel mandates. The EU was previously Argentina's largest export market.

A higher BO-GO spread means that soybean oil is relatively more expensive compared with fossil fuel middle distillates and that biodiesel is less able to be produced at prices that make it competitive within the blend pool. The relative value of CBOT soybean oil futures to ICE gasoil futures at the London close has averaged a premium of $169.92/mt in the first three months of the year, compared with a discount of $32.79/mt in the same period of last year and an average of minus $26.25/mt for the whole of 2014.

In an effort to prop up its ailing biodiesel industry, Argentina has reduced export duties on biodiesel over the course of the last year. It has also pushed for its product to be accepted under the US biofuel mandate, the Renewable Fuel Standard.

However, progress made towards RFS acceptance has been hampered by strong resistance from the US biodiesel industry. The National Biodiesel Board filed a petition to the EPA in March to stay a decision which it said would streamline biodiesel imports from Argentina.

--Sean Bartlett, sean.bartlett@platts.com
--Caroline Knight, caroline.knight@platts.com
--Edited by James Leech, james.leech@platts.com