More land in the EU-27 has been planted with oilseeds for the 2020 crop than the previous year due to the expansion in rapeseed and soy areas. The EU Commission estimates the EU-27 oilseed area for the 2020 crop at 10.6 million hectares. According to information published by the EU Commission, rapeseed accounts for the largest share of the oilseed area, as it did in... [Read More]

The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) has welcomed the available funding for competitive, cost-shared grants to support infrastructure for higher blends of biodiesel. The US Department for Agriculture (USDA) issued a notice that funds are being made available under the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Programme (HBIIP). Kurt Kovarik, NBB's vice president of federal... [Read More]

Regulations driving mandatory blends of agricultural products into ground transport fuel makes for a heady cocktail of unintended consequences. Despite the best laid plans of the European Union, companies have learned from the original Renewable Energy Directive (RED) throughout the 2010s, that there is a lot of room for things to go awry at the intersection of two huge... [Read More]

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced more details surrounding the application process for its higher blends Infrastructure Incentive Programme (HBIIP) that makes available $100 million (€91 million) in competitive grants. The grants are for activities designed to expand the sale and use of renewable fuels, $86 million (€78 million) of which is reserved... [Read More]

The closure of a US ethanol plant in Minnesota is set to carry on until at least the end of the month. Heron Lake Bioenergy LLC announced that the facility in Huron Lake, Minnesota, will remain shut due to the current Covid-19 pandemic. The company said it will re-evaluate the situation at the end of the month, which could result in the idling of the plant being extended. The... [Read More]

Neste’s acquisition of Mahoney Environmental, a leading collector and recycler of used cooking oil in the US, in March has been approved by the regulatory authorities. “The completion of this transaction is an important step forward in delivering on Neste’s growth strategy in renewables and in strengthening our global renewable raw material platform, building on... [Read More]

US production of biodiesel hit 132 million gallons (600 million litres) in February, the latest figures reveal. According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) biodiesel production was 2 million gallons (9.09 million litres) lower than production in January. Biodiesel production from the Midwest region accounted for 75% of the US total. Production came from... [Read More]

Australia and Ukraine have contributed record levels to German rapeseed imports in February. According to information published by the German Federal Statistical Office, the previously buoyant German rapeseed imports in the last 12 months marketing year continued into this year. Market participants had feared that imports would decline sharply at the beginning of this... [Read More]

Australia has begun a consultation on the development of an inaugural national road map to inform the next series of investment and policy decisions in the bioenergy sector. Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor announced the plan together with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). Bioenergy Australia CEO Shahana McKenzie said: “There... [Read More]

Clariant has announced that its first quarter operation sales of CHF1.02 billion (€964 million) were lower than the CHF1.16 billion (€1.1 billion) revenues in the same period of 2019. The company was confronted by a lower demand environment in the first quarter of 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic and a mild winter season. Efforts to minimise the impact of the pandemic... [Read More]

South East Asian biodiesel producers have dampened down hopes of a rise in export sales despite having surplus product available. Countries like Indonesia and Malaysia have seen consumption slashed as the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown measures have lessened demand for fuel. Malaysia's lockdown is similar to many western countries with shops closed and streets deserted. Malaysia... [Read More]

The challenge of compiling an overview of the current state of the European biofuels industry is as close to impossible as it gets at present, let alone delivering any degree of business accuracy to an analysis of the sector’s immediate future. As Covid-19 continues to sweep the world, the everyday reality for business leaders and politicians alike is that each new... [Read More]

The UK government has announced that 2,351 million litres of liquid biofuels were used in transport last year, which was an increase of 24% on the year before. In 2018, 1,899 million litres were consumed. The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTCO) put up the percentage of biofuel production for transport fuel produces from 7.25% in 2018 to 8.5% last year. According... [Read More]

BBI International has announced that the 2020 International Fuel Ethanol Workshop and Expo, the ethanol industry's largest conference, has been put back due to the global pandemic. Originally scheduled for mid-June in Minneapolis, the event is now rescheduled to take place on 24 August to 26 August in Omaha, Nebraska. Tom Bryan, president at BBI International, said:... [Read More]

Copa and Cogeca have expressed their concerns about the consequences of the Covid-19 crisis on the vegetable oils, biodiesel, rapeseed and ethanol sectors in a letter to the European Commission. Faced with falling European production and social distancing measures in the EU and worldwide due to the pandemic, protein-rich plant by-product markets risk entering into a phase... [Read More]

Back in 1994, I was at Cargill when John Elkington introduced his triple bottom line (TBL) concept. The TBL, as it came to be known, began to have an impact on my thinking almost immediately. Its ustainability framework encouraged businesses to measure not just economic impact, but also use a yardstick of equal importance on social and environmental scales. Over time,... [Read More]