Brazil to define new biodiesel mandate; industry pushes for B12 in March

Brazil will define its new biodiesel blending mandate in a meeting led by the national oil, natural gas and biofuels agency (ANP) in March, with the biodiesel industry advocating for an immediate increase from 10% (B10) to 12% (B12) with a further ramp up towards 15% (B15) by March 2024.

Brazil’s biodiesel blending mandate has reached a maximum of B13 and was first scheduled to reach B15 in March 2023.

However, the mandate was reduced to B10 in 2021 as the government attempted to control domestic inflation and has since remained at that level.

The previous administration's decision to reduce the mandate to control the rise of domestic prices was linked to soaring soybean and soyoil prices as soyoil composes about 70% of the feedstock used to produce biodiesel in Brazil.

While the current administration has yet to make its plans for the mandate clear, industry associations including Brazil’s vegetable oils association (Abiove), Brazil’s biofuels producers association (Aprobio), Brazil’s union of biodiesel and biokerosene (Ubrabio) and the national union of household agriculture and solidarity-based economy (Unicafes) told Agricensus they are pushing for an increase.

The associations added that they are looking for an immediate upgrade to B12 with a ramp-up to B13 scheduled for May and June, B14 from June 2023 to February 2024, and B15 by March 2024.

“Such increase aims at returning to the pathway to B15 gradually and with predictability so all sectors can adjust to the changes,” the associations said in a joint statement.