South Korea boosts UCO imports in November

South Korean used cooking oil (UCO) exports continued their downtrend in November, having plummeted by 35pc over January-November, although imports of the feedstock rose on the month to fuel a growing domestic biodiesel industry.

UCO imports dropped slightly on the year in November, but total January-November purchases rose by 19pc from a year earlier to 93,000t, which were already higher than whole-year totals for the past six years. The growth was largely driven by an increase in receipts from China, which rose by 44pc on the year to 48,500t over January-November.

Deliveries from Japan also rose by 59pc on the year to 15,000t in the first 11 months of this year, while imports from Indonesia and Taiwan dropped by 7pc and 4pc respectively to 14,000t and 12,000t.

The country's largest biodiesel producer Dansuk Industrial said it uses mainly UCO to fuel its 280,000 t/yr plant, with 12,000 t/month of the feedstock collected domestically and 8,000t shipped from overseas. Demand for the feedstock is set to grow further in the coming years as Dansuk prepares to open a 300,000 t/yr hydrotreated vegetable oil and sustainable aviation fuel plant in Daesan in 2024.

Smaller producers JC Chemical, Emax Solutions and Eco Solutions are also ISCC certified to use UCO.

But the 250,000 t/yr SK Eco Prime plant uses Pome for its European-bound biodiesel and palm fatty acid distillate for domestic use. Pome flows are difficult to track as South Korea imports Pome alongside other industrial fatty acids under the common HS tariff code 3823.19.9000. Total receipts for this category rose by a quarter compared with the same period last year to 196,500t over January-November, driven by an increase in volumes from China and Indonesia.

While feedstock inflows have ballooned, an increase in the domestic biodiesel blending mandate to 3.5pc from 3pc in July has capped exports of the finished product from South Korea so far this year. Overseas biodiesel sales rose by 12pc on the year to 13,500t in November, but the year-to-date total still trailed year-ago levels by 2pc at 172,000t.

Export destinations have also diversified. Sales to top buyers the Netherlands and US both fell by 11pc and 9pc to 80,000t and 74,500t respectively during January-November. But Spain and Denmark increased receipts from zero last year to 9,500t and 8,000t respectively during the same period.

By Lauren Moffitt