Malaysia doubles biodiesel export expectations
Malaysia has raised its 2008 biodiesel export forecast to 200,000 tonnes, more than double that of last year's 95,013 tonnes.
'Export of biodiesel is picking up in volume and speed,' Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin states. 'The spread between the selling price of palm methyl ester and the feedstock is allowing biodiesel producers to make some money.'
'If the spread holds, biodiesel exports should continue at the current robust pace and we could possibly more than double the number from last year,' Chin adds.
The new predictions overshadow earlier forecasts resting at exports to grow by one-and-a-half times from last year.
According to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) the country exported 128,527 tonnes of biodiesel in the first nine months of this year.
In mid-October, the third-month benchmark crude palm oil price traded at RM1,652 (361 Euro's) while crude oil on Nymex traded at RM261.22 a barrel.
The elevated forecast is undermined by Malaysia's sluggish biodiesel plant construction programme. Of the 91 biodiesel licences issued to date in Malaysia, 15 plants with a combined 1.6 million tonnes capacity have been built. Out of that, five are actively producing and exporting methyl ester.
'Export of biodiesel is picking up in volume and speed,' Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin states. 'The spread between the selling price of palm methyl ester and the feedstock is allowing biodiesel producers to make some money.'
'If the spread holds, biodiesel exports should continue at the current robust pace and we could possibly more than double the number from last year,' Chin adds.
The new predictions overshadow earlier forecasts resting at exports to grow by one-and-a-half times from last year.
According to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) the country exported 128,527 tonnes of biodiesel in the first nine months of this year.
In mid-October, the third-month benchmark crude palm oil price traded at RM1,652 (361 Euro's) while crude oil on Nymex traded at RM261.22 a barrel.
The elevated forecast is undermined by Malaysia's sluggish biodiesel plant construction programme. Of the 91 biodiesel licences issued to date in Malaysia, 15 plants with a combined 1.6 million tonnes capacity have been built. Out of that, five are actively producing and exporting methyl ester.
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