UFOP says rapeseed oil remains most important biodiesel raw material in EU

In Germany, UFOP reports that while the availability and price of vegetable and animal oils and fats play a key role in biodiesel production, rapeseed oil continues to be the most important source of raw materials for biodiesel production in the EU.

With the lower supply and the resulting increase in the price of the raw material, however, the share shrank slightly from 48% in 2016 to 44% in 2017. The growing competition of cheap raw materials from overseas combined with scarce and thus expensive rapeseed oil reduced the opportunities for domestic oilseeds. The share of biodiesel and hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) from Southeast Asia in EU biodiesel production (including HVO) grew to 29%. In countries such as Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, imported palm oil is the No. 1 raw material for biodiesel production, in Germany and France it is rapeseed oil. By contrast, the use of yellow grease has increased only marginally, although the policy particularly encourages its use. With the exception of Germany, biofuels from waste and residual materials will be counted twice towards national quota obligations (energetically) in order to increase the share of renewable energies in the transport sector, which is binding for all member states, to 10% by 2020.