Soybean oil prices fall amid shrinking prospects for US biodiesel consumption

The decision by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to increase the share of biofuel use by only 1% in 2023/25 and to allow the use of rapeseed (canola) oil for biodiesel production collapsed soybean oil quotes, which were well above the prices of palm and sunflower oil .

January futures for soybean oil in Chicago fell by 16.8% during the week, in particular by 4.3% yesterday to $1,377/ton, which corresponds to the level before the beginning of the war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

January palm oil futures on the Malaysian exchange were also down 4.4% for the week at 3,967 ringgit/t, or $908/t. Traders forecast oil production to fall 5% in November from October and exports to rise 3%, which will reduce Malaysia’s huge palm oil stockpile and support the quote.

Following soybean quotations, demand prices for sunflower oil fell from $1,350 to $1,300/t CIF for the week, according to the Trading Economics platform.

Demand prices for Ukrainian sunflower oil from the EU have also decreased to $1,120/t DAP Poland and $1,200/t DAP Bulgaria, but the volume of offers is reduced due to the shutdown of the oil plants due to power outages.

Exports of sunflower oil from Ukraine increased from 455,000 tons in October to 483,000 tons in November, while sunflower exports remained at a high level of 398,000 tons.

Tags: rapeseed oil, ethanol, Ukraine, Russia, sunflower oil, soybean oil, EU, prices, soybean, palm oil