More biodiesel will be blended into fuel used in Brazil. This story from Reuters says the South American country will up its biodiesel mandate to 6 percent in July and to 7 percent in November, a rise from the current 5 percent biodiesel blend with diesel.
“The increase in the biodiesel blend will allow Brazil to substitute the import of 1.2 billion liters (264 million U.S. gallons) of diesel a year,” [Mines and Energy Minister Edison] Lobao said at an event in Brasilia.
Brazil will also set up a band for the minimum biodiesel requirement to be added to diesel that will range between 5 and 7 percent and vary according to economic conditions, like a similar band for blending ethanol into gasoline, the biofuels coordinator at the Agricultural Development Ministry, André Machado, told Reuters.
Changing the blend requirement for biodiesel has been on the table for years but faced resistance from the Finance Ministry, which has struggled to keep inflation within the central bank’s target range ahead of the presidential election in October.
Opponents of the move tried to raise fears that it would raise commodity soy prices, but recent studies showed that impact would be negligible. The larger blend requirement could raise domestic consumption of biodiesel by about 300 million gallons annually.