- Demand remains sluggish in Singapore.
- POMEME prices rise in the ARA.
- Dutch biofuel rebates rise.
Singapore’s B24 drops to rare discount to Rotterdam’s B30, reports Engine.
Changes in weekly bio-bunker prices (ENGINE-PRIMA Markets):
- Singapore’s B24-VLSFO unchanged at $738/mt
- Singapore’s B24-LSMGO down by $2/mt to $849/mt
- Rotterdam’s B30-VLSFO (HBE) is up by $19/mt to $744/mt
- Rotterdam’s B30-LSMGO (HBE) is up by $10/mt to $877/mt
Singapore
Singapore’s B24-VLSFO UCOME has remained steady over the past week. It has flipped from a $11/mt premium over Rotterdam’s B30-VLSFO HBE noted last week to a rare $6/mt discount now. Rotterdam’s benchmark has a higher biofuel blend percentage, but it is nonetheless interesting to note that biofuels are priced more competitively in Singapore.
Weak demand has contributed to keeping the port’s B24-VLSFO prices steady. The biofuel bunker market has been very quiet in Singapore recently, a trader said.
Bio-bunker demand was strong last year as ships burned bio-bunker stems to test these blends, a source argued. The number of trials has dwindled this year and could have contributed to a slowdown in bio-bunker demand.
Rising freight costs and an ongoing investigation by the European Commission into Chinese biodiesel imports have dented EU buyers’ appetite for Chinese UCO imports, according to PRIMA Markets. As a result, Chinese suppliers have been offering UCO at competitive levels to buyers in Southeast Asian countries, especially in Singapore.
Going forward, higher inflows of Chinese UCO and a lack of biofuel demand could pull bio-bunker prices in Singapore lower. ISCC-certified UCO FOB China in bulk was assessed at $820/mt last Thursday, according to PRIMA Markets data.
Singapore’s B24-VLSFO price was trading around $25/mt lower than Hong Kong’s B24-VLSFO last Thursday.
Rotterdam
Rotterdam’s B30-VLSFO HBE bunker price has shot up by $19/mt on the week. This price is for an advanced biofuel blend that is rebated through the Dutch hernieuwbare brandstofeenheden (HBE) system. The HBE rebate for B30-VLSFO bunkered in the Netherlands has gone up by $4/mt to $86/mt over the past week.
Ticket markets in the Netherlands have continued their upward trend. 2024 HBE tickets of A-listed feedstocks gained by €0.50/gigajoule (GJ) ($0.54/GJ) on the week to midpoint at €9.05/GJ ($9.76/GJ), according to data from PRIMA Markets.
Biodiesel prices in the Netherlands have made steeper gains compared to gains in gasoil prices. This could explain why the cost of tickets is going up, a source said. Despite bigger Dutch rebates, Rotterdam’s B30-VLSFO HBE price has gone up on the back of a big gain in the price of palm oil mill effluent methyl ester (POMEME). POMEME is produced from one of the most popular advanced biofuel feedstocks.
PRIMA assessed POMEME in the ARA up by $72/mt on the week, which has supported the benchmark’s gain.
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Source: Engine
