Biofuel Bunker Snapshot: Bio-bunker prices tumble after Trump fires first shots in trade war
Oil and biofuel prices plunge on tariff uncertainty
ISCC might not be suspended, but cut high-risk supply chains
NX Shoji delivers first biofuel stem in Osaka
Rotterdam
Rotterdam’s B30-VLSFO HBE price has plunged $58/mt lower in the past week, weighed down by a $49/mt fall in the port’s pure VLSFO price and a $75/mt fall for POMEME CIF ARA barges assessed by Prima Markets. A $2/mt higher HBE rebate has also contributed to the drop, albeit marginally.
US tariffs on China and other countries have sparked the start of a trade war that is set to destroy trade in oil and biofuels. There is no hard evidence yet of dented demand, but sentiment-driven trade has knocked value off index-linked oil and biofuel products like ICE Brent crude and ICE Argus UCOME – which to some extent also guide other oil and biofuel prices in the market.
B30-LSMGO HBE has come off even more, led by a $56/mt drop in pure LSMGO in Rotterdam.
ARA B30-VLSFO UCOME prices have fared similarly to the HBE-rebated POMEME-based prices in Rotterdam. A similar $75/mt plunge for Prima’s UCOME FOB ARA barge price has weighed on these prices, along with the falls in pure VLSFO and LSMGO.
Singapore
Singapore’s B24-VLSFO and B24-LSMGO UCOME prices have come off, but by much smaller amounts than the Rotterdam and ARA B30 prices. A $36/mt decline in Singapore’s pure VLSFO price has pulled the B24-VLSFO benchmark, while pure LSMGO has fallen by a steeper $53/mt and led to a bigger drop for B24-LSMGO.
Freight for a representative UCOME cargo from China to Singapore has come off by $0.75/mt to $16.25/mt, and not made a meaningful difference to UCOME bio-bunker prices in Singapore.
Other bio-bunker news
The European Union is expected to pressure the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) system to suspend certifications linked to high-risk biofuel supply chains, according to a source familiar with the certification system.
NX Shoji has supplied bio-bunker fuel to Toyo Construction in Osaka, Japan. This marked the NX Shoji’s first biofuel delivery outside of Tokyo Bay.
By Erik Hoffmann
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