Avril shuts biodiesel plants as profits evaporate
Leading French biodiesel (RME) producer Groupe Avril has temporarily shut in an unspecified amount of its production as demand and profits dive, a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting movement restrictions.
Avril chief executive Jean-Philippe Puig said the firm has "only three plants currently in operation" out of six. Avril has yet to respond to questions over which plants have been shut. The firm has units at Bassens, Sete, two at Rouen, Lezoux and Le Meriot. Capacity is around 1.4mn t/yr.
Puig cited a fall of 60pc in diesel-powered vehicles on the roads this month, which has cut demand for biodiesel blending. The drop in the price of biodiesel has been sharp, but this has not been matched by a corresponding fall in the price of rapeseed oil, making biodiesel production uneconomic. "The prices are catastrophic and are at a level where we should stop everything. We have had prices drop below zero," he said.
Puig says biodiesel orders for April into May have also declined sharply.
Avril is also a major rapeseed crusher and vegetable oil producer, but its volumes of rapeseed oil destined for production of biodiesel are now lying spare. "We are trying to find outlets to export the oil," said Puig. The company has looked at trying to export cargoes to China, according to Puig.
Avril has already said that a 250,000 t/yr biodiesel train at its plant in Rouen — one of two similar-sized units at the plant — would not be brought back on stream yet, following a fire in March.
The rise in imports of biodiesel in France has been a long term issue for the company. It prompted Avril to look to either offload plants or attract partners into its domestic biodiesel production last year. In November it said it had posted losses of €133mn ($145mn) in three years at its biodiesel division.
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Eastern US ports, railroads prepare for possible strike
Eastern US ports, railroads prepare for possible strike
Cheyenne, 26 September (Argus) — Ports in the eastern half of the US and railroads CSX and Norfolk Southern are starting to act on contingency plans as the deadline for a potential port worker labor strike nears. Port authorities in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Houston, Texas, have told customers at least some operations will stop effective 30 September if the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and US Maritime Alliance (USMX) cannot come to a new collective bargaining agreement. Union members have threatened to walk off the job as soon as 1 October, potentially bringing container cargo traffic to a halt in many regions. Other port authorities have been more circumspect on plans. The Maryland Port Authority, which oversees the Port of Baltimore, has said so far that it is "closely monitoring" the situation and that a strike "could impact" some operations. At the moment, ILA and USMX do not appear to be close to an agreement on a master labor contract. USMX today filed an unfair labor practice charge against ILA with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing the union of "repeated refusal" to negotiate. The union earlier this week said the two sides have talked "multiple times" and blamed the impasse on USMX continually offering "an unacceptable wage increase package." Container cargoes at greatest risk The potential port strike is expected to have the greatest impact on products carried on container ships. Movements of dry bulk cargo, such as coal and grains, are expected to be less affected by a potential work stoppage, though there could be side effects from the congestion of other products being rerouted to ports not affected by the strike. Some ports that have announced contingency plans expect to stop work on 30 September in stages. The Port of Virginia — including Norfolk International Terminals, Virginia International Gateway and Newport News Marine Terminal — would stop train deliveries at 8am ET on 30 September and require all vessels at the port to leave by 1pm. Container operations at Norfolk International Terminals and Virginia International Gateway would stop by 6pm ET that day, the port said. The New Orleans Terminal at the Port of New Orleans would stop receiving refrigerated exports at 5pm ET on 27 September and halt container vessel operations at 1pm ET on 30 September. It would also halt rail operations at 5pm ET on 30 September. Eastern railroads CSX and Norfolk Southern (NS) already have started curtailing some operations. CSX required temperature-controlled refrigerated equipment headed to East coast ports to be at CSX loadouts by 25 September and set deadlines for other export intermodal shipments to be at CSX loadouts by 25 September-5 October. NS required some eastern export shipments be at the railroad's loadout locations between 23-25 September and wants most of the rest of the container exports to be at its facilities by 5pm on 29 September. "We are proactively implementing measures to minimize potential operational impacts across our network, including at our Intermodal facilities," NS said on 23 September. The railroad also "strongly" recommended that customers not ship hazardous, high-value and refrigerated products by rail to export terminals "to avoid unexpected delays upon reaching the port destinations." By Courtney Schlisserman Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Low Argentina rivers lift Brazil biodiesel
Low Argentina rivers lift Brazil biodiesel
Sao Paulo, 26 September (Argus) — A drop in river levels in Argentina's Parana upriver region amid a historical drought has snarled transport and inflated soybean oil and biodiesel prices in Brazil. The depth of the Parana River in Argentina's San Lorenzo city, a major hub for soybean oil shipments, dropped to 9.44m (30ft) on 20 September, the lowest level since January 2023, according to information provided by maritime agencies T&T and Antares. The lower river flow is forcing soybean oil traders to reduce how much product they load onto tankers that stop at Argentinian ports by between 5-12.5pc, according to Argentina market sources. A 12.5pc capacity reduction on a standard tanker would mean a loading 28,000 metric tonnes (t) instead of 32,000t. These restrictions have affected the Brazilian soybean oil and biodiesel market, as trading companies seek additional volumes in Brazilian seaports to complete shipments for export. A change in Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) differentials at the port of Paranagua was first observed on 27 September, when the premium for selling soybean oil for shipment in October rose to 8¢/lb in relation to the future contract traded on the CBOT. Earlier in the week, offers were close to 1.8¢/lb. On 25 September, negotiations ranged between premiums of 2.5-5.5¢/lb in relation to the soybean oil future contract due in October, corresponding to prices between $1,034-1,100/t fob Paranagua. Last week, the Argus fob Paranagua indicator closed between $934-1,009/t. Soybean availability in the Brazilian market is reduced amid strong demand in the domestic market, driven by an increase in the biodiesel blending mandate to 14pc from 12pc in March. The rise in domestic demand has also reduced the competitiveness of Brazilian exports, contributing to a drop in soybean oil shipments to ports. Brazil's association of vegetable oil industries Abiove predicts that 2024 exports will total 1.15mn t, nearly half of the volumes dispatched in 2023. Lever effect The low availability of soybean oil in the Brazilian market was concerning market participants even before the deterioration of the situation in Argentina. The price of soybean oil for export is the main factor in the price equation for most supply contracts between biodiesel producers and distributors. Logistics problems associated with a lower Parana River contribute to the imbalance between increased demand for soybean oil in the biodiesel sector and a shortage of product in the market. Soybean oil is the main input for biodiesel production in Brazil, accounting for 72.5pc of all feedstocks used in national production in the first eight months of 2024, according to data from hydrocarbons regulator ANP. And rising soybean oil prices tend to boost prices of other raw materials, such as beef tallow, which represented 6.5pc of biodiesel inputs in the same period. Faced with the rising cost of inputs, Brazilian biodiesel plants have been prioritizing the delivery of volumes contracted for the September-October supply period and the delivery of overdue volumes for the previous bi-monthly period. That has limited the availability of spot market volumes. This sudden rise in the price of soybean oil in Paranagua has also reduced the domestic market premium in relation to the export market. This makes it more attractive for regional producers to sell product abroad. By Amance Boutin and Joao Marinho Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Aug wildfires in Brazilian state surge eightfold
Aug wildfires in Brazilian state surge eightfold
Sao Paulo, 26 September (Argus) — Fires in Sao Paulo, Brazil's most populous state, increased eightfold in August from the same month last year, an "alarming rate" amid extreme climate conditions that harm the sugarcane industry, sector associations said. The state had 11,628 fire outbreaks last month, more than triple the historic average of 3,550. Nearly half of the fires took place on 23 August alone, according to data from industry association Canaoeste and fire monitoring network GMG Ambiental. Fires hit 658,600 hectares. The town of Pitangueira had the most blazes, at 354. Altinopolis and Sertaozinho came in second and third, with 252 and 296, respectively. Nearly all of the most affected towns have high production of sugarcane. The groups highlighted that 20-24 August fires happened as low humidity, high temperatures and strong winds put Sao Paulo in "extreme risk" for wildfires. The data was shown in a meeting with several industry representatives, such as Canoeste, Unica and Orplana. The groups added that sugarcane producers were not responsible for the fires nor were benefiting from them, defending themselves from accusations that they could be lighting fires to accelerate harvesting — an old common practice supposedly abolished. By Maria Ligia Barros Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
US trucking index at 18-month high in August: ATA
US trucking index at 18-month high in August: ATA
Houston, 25 September (Argus) — US trucking freight volumes rose in August to the highest level since February 2023, the American Trucking Association (ATA) said. The ATA's seasonally adjusted Truck Tonnage Index (TTI) rose in August by 1.8pc from a month earlier and by 0.7pc from a year earlier. The index has increased on a monthly and yearly basis only twice in the past 18 months, last doing so in May 2024 . August's "robust gain" indicates freight levels are rebounding from a bottom, according to ATA economist Bob Costello. The TTI's month-to-month movement so far this year also shows the freight market is "at an inflection point," Costello said. The US trucking industry contracted in 2023 and initially got off to a slow start this year. Last week, the Federal Reserve cut its target lending rates for the first time in four years , suggesting the worst inflationary pressures may be over. The TTI is calculated monthly using a survey of ATA membership to estimate seasonally-adjusted trends in the value of US truck freight. Trucking comprises roughly three-quarters of tonnage carried by all modes of transportation in the US, and so can serve as an indicator of the health of the transportation sector and the economy at large. By Gordon Pollock Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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