OFI January 2022 by Quartz Business Media

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OILS & FATS INTERNATIONAL JANUARY 2022 ▪ VOL 38 NO 1

SHIPPING

A perfect storm

LAURIC OILS

Coconuts in the Philippines

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CONTENTS

IN THIS ISSUE – JANUARY 2022 Lauric Oils

FEATURES

Leader of the pack

As the top consumed and produced vegetable oil, palm remains the focus of the global oils and fats market, with consumption set to rise due to the recovery of the global economy

Rendering

Repurposing is the purpose

Darling Ingredients is a leading global rendering firm with renewable diesel and collagen being its two fastest growing segments

The Philippines is the world’s largest coconut products exporter. While production is challenged by ageing trees, poor infrastructure and typhoons, a new US$1.5bn trust fund is expected to modernise the industry

Shipping

Photo: Adobe Stock

Palm Oil

NEWS & EVENTS

Coconuts in the Philippines

Photo: Adobe Stock

OILS & FATS INTERNATIONAL

A perfect storm

The COVID-19 pandemic sparked a supply chain crisis leading to disruption and surging prices in the container shipping sector, which is not expected to improve until the end of 2022

Plant, Equipment & Technology

Global round-up of projects OFI reports on some of the latest projects, technology and process news and developments around the world

Comment

COP out?

News

EU drafts deforestation import ban on palm oil

Biofuels News

Shell looks to Singapore to meet Asia SAF demand

Renewable News

Orlen Południe to produce propylene glycol

Transport News

US infrastructure act to modernise transportation

Biotech News

DRIVING STORAGE FORWARD.

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Contents Jan 2022.indd 1

China proposes changes to spur GM corn cultivation

Diary of Events

International events listing

International Market Review 11 TERMINALS IN EUROPE TOTAL STORAGE CAPACITY 4,100,000 CBM 3 COASTERS & 11 INLAND BARGES

Crop rebounds fail to curb rising prices

Statistics

World statistical data

OFI – JANUARY 2022

14/12/2021 14:41:37

EDITOR'S COMMENT

OILS & FATS INTERNATIONAL

VOL 38 NO 1 JANUARY 2022

EDITORIAL: Editor: Serena Lim serenalim@quartzltd.com +44 (0)1737 855066 Assistant Editor: Gill Langham gilllangham@quartzltd.com +44 (0)1737 855157 SALES: Sales Manager: Mark Winthrop-Wallace markww@quartzltd.com +44 (0)1737 855114 Sales Consultant: Anita Revis anitarevis@quartzltd.com +44 (0)1737 855068 PRODUCTION: Production Editor: Carol Baird carolbaird@quartzltd.com CORPORATE: Managing Director: Tony Crinion tonycrinion@quartzltd.com +44 (0)1737 855164 SUBSCRIPTIONS: Jack Homewood subscriptions@quartzltd.com +44 (0)1737 855028 Subscriptions, Quartz House, 20 Clarendon Road, Redhill, Surrey RH1 1QX, UK © 2022, Quartz Business Media ISSN 0267-8853 WWW.OFIMAGAZINE.COM

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Comment Jan 2022.indd 1

Cop out? The COP26 United Nations climate change conference ended on 12 November with a watered-down agreement that many world leaders and activists believe will not be enough to prevent a climate catastrophe. The conference agreed to meet again next year in Egypt to pledge further cuts to emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) – the greenhouse gas which causes climate change – to try and keep temperature rises within 1.50C – the long-standing target for a climate safe world. A COP first was an explicit plan to reduce the use of coal, which is responsible for 40% of annual CO2 emissions. In addition, world leaders agreed to phase out fossil fuel subsidies although no firm dates were set. Also coming out of COP26, more than 100 world leaders covering 85% of the world’s forested areas promised to pursue sustainable commodity production and consumption and to end deforestation by 2030, a vital move as trees absorb vast amounts of CO2. Expansion of agricultural commodities including production of soya, cocoa, beef and palm oil currently drives more than 70% of tropical deforestation, their announcement said. Twenty-eight producer and consumer countries including Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, China, Indonesia, the EU, UK and USA representing 76% (US$350bn) of the world’s soya, palm, cocoa, beef, timber paper and pulp exports also committed to deliver sustainable trade and reduce tree loss. Alongside this, 10 companies – including agribusiness giants Cargill, Golden Agri Resources, Olam and Wilmar – pledged to develop their own roadmap to speed up action on eliminating commodity-driven deforestation. While on the finance side, more than 30 financial institutions, including Aviva, Schroders and Axa, said they would commit to eliminate investment in activities linked to deforestation. Two weeks after COP26, the European Union (EU) proposed an import ban on palm oil and other products linked to deforestation (see p4), with the European Commission outlining a draft law requiring companies to prove that agricultural commodities coming into Europe are not linked to deforestation. The proposal covers beef, coffee, cocoa, palm oil, soyabeans and wood. There is no shortage of pledges but will there be enough action? Most commitments made at COP26 will have to be self-policed and previous promises have not been met. A similar deforestation deal in 2014 failed to slow deforestation. In fact, Brazilian space research agency (Inpe) reported that deforestation in the country’s Amazon rainforest hit its highest level for 15 years in 2020/21. Developed nations also pledged in 2009 to provide US$100bn/year to emerging economies to tackle climate change by 2020 and this target wasn’t met. Current climate pledges will only limit global warming to around 2.4C and while some countries can wait 10 years for action and funding to materialise, others do not have that luxury. More frequent extreme weather events as a result of climate change have already directly impacted our industry, with Hurricane Ida affecting logistics in the US Gulf, the drying of South America’s Paraná River impacting transport of soyabeans, and severe drought affecting Canada’s canola harvest. For low-lying island nations experiencing flooding, contamination of water sources, loss of arable land and food scarcity and whose very existence is threatened, the need for action is even more urgent. As Shauna Aminath, environment minister for the Maldives, says: “The difference between 1.5 and 2 degrees is a death sentence for us.” Serena Lim serenalim@quartzltd.com www.ofimagazine.com

14/12/2021 14:50:07

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NEWS IN BRIEF UK: Supermarket group Morrisons is installing insect 'mini farm' containers at 10 of its free-range egg sites to reduce its use of soya feed, Poultry News reported on 1 December. The insects at the 'farms' developed by agri-tech firm Better Origin would be fed with the retailer's fruit and vegetable waste and would collectively feed 320,000 free-range hens. Soya currently accounted for 10%-20% of hens’ normal diets, while up to 70% of the emissions from the UK’s supply chain was attributed to feed, of which soya was a major contributor, Morrisons said. The supermarket expects to sell its first carbon neutral eggs this year.

EU drafts deforestation import ban on palm oil The European Union (EU) is proposing an import ban on palm oil and other products linked to deforestation, The Guardian newspaper reported on 17 November. Two weeks after world leaders signed a deal at the United Nations climate change conference (COP26), the EU executive outlined a draft law requiring companies to prove that agricultural commodities into Europe were not linked to deforestation, according to the report. While beef, coffee, cocoa, palm oil, soyabeans and wood were covered by the proposals, rubber was not, an exclusion that had been criticised by environmentalists, the report said. However, environmental groups have welcomed the plans as it was the first time the EU would attempt to regulate products linked to all – and not just illegal – deforestation, according to the report. Environmentalists said this was an important step, as some large forested coun-

tries, such as Brazil, had whittled away legal protections, the report said. “If we expect more ambitious climate and environmental policies from partners, we should stop supporting deforestation ourselves,” EU environment commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius said. Nico Muzi, the Europe director of the Mighty Earth campaign group, was quoted as saying the law was “a major leap forward” in the fight to protect the world’s endangered forests. “The EU is sending a clear message to major supermarkets and retailers: one of the largest economies in the world simply won’t accept agricultural products linked to deforestation.” However, the EU’s proposals “pointlessly left out” fragile ecosystems, such as Brazil’s Cerrado savannah and peatlands in south-east Asia, he added, and Mighty Earth was also critical about the exclusion of rubber.

A luxury face product containing insect oil has been launched by US company SIBU in partnership with insect industry professional Josh Galt. Point68 – a reference to insects and other anthropods which have six and eight legs respectively – is a luxury face product containing extracts of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) oil, as well as sea buckthorn, argan and sunflower oils. The BSFL oil was extracted using a chemical-free, coldpress process from insects

Photo: Point 68

US firm launches insect oil extract in luxury face oil

which were farmed in modern facilities under controlled con-

ditions, SIBU's website said. “While scientific studies

have demonstrated the efficacy of insect oil composition both nutritionally and topically for the human body, Point68 is the first product to utilise this nutrient dense oil in combination with other botanicals… for a beauty skincare regimen,” Point68 said on its website. BSFL oil is naturally rich in omega-3, 6 and 9 fatty acids, according to the SIBU website, The oil was particularly high in lauric acid, the medium-chain fatty acid also found in coconut oil, the website said.

World leaders and businesses commit to end deforestation More than 100 national leaders covering 85% of the world's forested areas – including those from major soyabean and palm oil-producing countries – signed a pledge to end deforestation by 2030 during the 31 October-12 November United Nations climate change conference (COP26) in Glasgow. In a statement, the UK government said the pledge was backed by almost £14bn (US$19.2bn) in public and private funding, AgriCensus wrote on 2 November. Twenty-eight producer and consumer countries representing 76% of the world's 4 OFI – JANUARY 2022

General News Jan 2022.indd 2

soya, palm, cocoa, beef, timber, paper and pulp exports also committed to deliver sustainable trade and reduce tree loss. Alongside this, 10 agribusiness giants including Cargill, Golden Agri Resources, Olam and Wilmar signed a pledge to publish their own roadmap to speed up action on eliminating commodity-driven deforestation and their blueprint on a supply chain “consistent with a 1.50C pathway” by COP27 in Egypt this November. The UN Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 at COP21 set a global warming limit of 1.50C above pre-industrial levels.

Despite the commitments, non-profit organisations said the deals would do little to stem deforestation in the near-term, with Greenpeace saying that the announcements were “a green light for another decade of forest destruction,” according to the AgriCensus report. “There’s a very good reason [Brazil President Jair] Bolsonaro felt comfortable signing on to this new deal. It allows another decade of forest destruction and isn’t binding,” Greenpeace Brazil’s executive director Carolina Pasquali was quoted as saying. www.ofimagazine.com

14/12/2021 15:11:22

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NEWS

Food crisis looms with global fertiliser shortage A worldwide shortage and record high prices of fertiliser are driving up food costs and creating a crisis for poorer countries, according to the president of a major fertiliser company. The production of fertiliser requires large amounts of gas and the sharp rise in energy prices had driven up production costs, Svein Tore Holsether, CEO and president of Norwegian fertiliser giant Yara International told the BBC on 26 November. This had led to a supply shortage of fertiliser, which in turn was pushing up food prices.

Global nitrogen fertiliser sales were worth US$53bn in 2020 and prices were at least 80% at the end of 2021, according to Argus Media. Holsether said developing countries would be hit hardest by the fertiliser shortages with crop yields declining and food prices rising. “It's really scary, we are facing a food crisis and vulnerable people are being hit very hard,” he told the BBC's Today programme. In North America, the record fertiliser prices were prompting farmers to delay

purchases until spring, running the risk of supply chain congestion if they rushed to apply fertiliser and plant seed during a tight window, according to a 24 November Reuters report. Farmers applied nitrogen to boost yields of corn, canola and wheat before winter to reduce their spring workload, the report said. US farmers could reduce their fertiliser needs by planting more soyabeans and less corn but there was little evidence that many planned to do so, Reuters wrote.

Agribusiness leader Cargill has begun a US$35M expansion of its production plant in Port Klang, Malaysia, as part of a wider US$100M investment to expand its global speciality fats portfolio. The company said on 8 November that it would be installing dry palm fractionation capacity at its Port Klang site for the production of a range of speciality fats for use in chocolates, coatings, fillings and compounds, spreads, baking fats and other applications. The expansion followed an almost complete US$20M upgrade of Cargill’s Malaysia Edible Oils R&D Center, where further improvements were planned to align with the Port

IN BRIEF CÔTE D'IVOIRE: Cargill announced on 2 November that it had completed a US$100M cocoa processing expansion in Yopougon to meet demand for dark brown cocoa powders. Production at the new plant – which produced cocoa powder, cocoa butter, and solid and liquid cocoa liquor – would increase by 50%, with dark brown cocoa powders representing a significant share of this. The expansion was in line with Cargill's wider plan to shift more cocoa grinding activities to origin countries. 6 OFI – JANUARY 2022

General News Jan 2022.indd 3

Photo: Pixabay

Cargill expands in speciality fats with Port Klang site

Cargill will produce speciality fats for use in chocolates, coatings, fillings, compounds and other applications at its Port Klang site in Malaysia

Klang facility’s new speciality fat capabilities, Cargill said. Cargill said the two projects were the first of what it expected to be multiple investments,

spread across its global speciality fat production plants. “All too often, brands must navigate complicated supply chains to procure their spe-

ciality fats, purchasing oil from one supplier, then shipping it to others for further processing,” Jennifer Shomenta, president and group leader for Cargill’s global edible oils solutions business, said. “Through our investments at Port Klang and across our global processing locations, we’ll eliminate those extra steps.” Due for completion in late 2023, Cargill said the Port Klang expansion would allow the company to begin supplying speciality fats throughout the Asia Pacific region, and semi-finished products to its facilities in Europe, the Middle East, Russia, South America and North America.

Sierra Leone's first cocoa processing plant Food processing company Capitol Foods has opened a cocoa processing factory in Sierra Leone – a first for the West African country, African Business reported on 2 November. The new facility in the eastern village of Kenema has the capacity to produce 4,000 tonnes/ year of cocoa beans, which represents around a quarter of the country’s annual output, according to the report. The plant would export its semi-finished product to major cocoa produce buyers and chocolatiers in Europe for 20% more than it sold its unprocessed cocoa beans, CEO of Capitol Foods and factory owner Hamza Hashim was quoted as saying. As well as helping the country to profit from its natural resources, Hashim said the aim of the processing plant was also to help local cocoa farmers realise the potential of their

land, crops and skills. The new US$2.9M plant was backed by US$600,000 from the Sierra Leone Agribusiness Development Fund (SLAD), African Business wrote. Sierra Leone exported US$33.2M in cocoa beans in 2019, making it the 17th largest cocoa bean exporter in the world, according to the OEC trade data site. Cocoa beans are the country’s fifth biggest export, with the bulk of its cocoa (US$31.8M) sold in Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Malaysia and the USA. Hashim said the next step would be manufacturing chocolate in the country for the first time. “We have plans to upgrade the factory to produce chocolate, butter and powder within 2022, and are looking to expand our export markets to North America and the Middle East.” www.ofimagazine.com

14/12/2021 15:11:26

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NEWS THE NETHERLANDS: Bunge Loders Croklaan (BLC) said on 4 November that it planned to build a new facility in the Port of Amsterdam to replace its Maasvlakte refinery in Rotterdam, sold at the end of 2020. Production at BLC’s current location in Wormerveer would also move to the new plant in phases during 2025. BLC said it was planning to invest more than US$346M in the new facility, due for completion in 2024, enabling the company to offer a broader portfolio of sustainable plant-based oils and fats. BRAZIL: Global number one meat firm JBS is planning to build a cultured meat research centre in Brazil following its acquisition of Spanish start-up BioTech Foods, Plant Based News reported on 18 November. The BioTech purchase follows JBS’ acquisition of Dutch plant-based meat brand Vivera Foods for US$341M in April. JBS was also investing US$41M in a plant in Spain, with the aim of starting production. The group already operates its own plantbased food brand Panterra, which produces meat-free burgers and other products. WORLD: The world 2021 food import bill is expected to reach a record high surpassing US$1.75trn, a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Outlook report said on 11 November, The bill was a 14% rise compared to the previous year due to higher price levels of internationally traded food and a three-fold increase in freight costs. Developing nations also faced sharp increases in the prices of basic staples such as animal fats, cereals, oilseeds and vegetable oils, according to the report. 8 OFI – JANUARY 2022

General News Jan 2022.indd 4

Repeal of Indian farm laws may hit oilseeds production Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to repeal three controversial farm laws could hit the country's National Mission on Oilseeds, The Economic Times reported on 23 November. Modi said on 19 November that he would start the constitutional process to repeal all the three laws, which he passed last year in a bid to overhaul India’s outdated agriculture sector by rolling back farm subsidies and price regulation on crops, The Guardian newspaper wrote. The laws sparked major protests in the past year among farmers, who said they put their livelihoods at risk and handed control over the pricing of their crops to private corporations. The National Mission on Oilseeds aimed to increase production of mustard, groundnut and soyabeans to reduce dependence on import-

ed edible oils. While the farm laws had been expected to encourage farmers to switch from grains to oilseeds, farmers may now continue growing wheat and other cereals and the government would still be forced to purchase the grains at the minimum support price (MSP), The Economic Times wrote. Solvent Extractors’ Association president Atul Chaturvedi said India’s agriculture sector needed “massive reforms” to become competitive. “We will have to see whether the government’s decision to repeal the farm law will have an impact on the launch of the mission,” The Economic Times quoted him as saying. “With the country moving towards normality and edible oil consumption picking up, any delay on this count will compound the problems.”

No adverse health effects from full-fat milk

Photo: Adobe Stock

IN BRIEF

Current guidance that children over the age of two years should consume low fat dairy products should be reviewed, according to a new Australian study reported by Farm Online on 13 October. The study by

researchers from Edith Cowan University in Perth looked into the consumption of full-fat dairy products in children. Over three-months, 49 children aged between four and six years were randomly allo-

cated to receive whole fat or low-fat dairy products in place of their normal dairy intake. Researchers then measured the children’s obesity, body composition, blood pressure, and blood biomarkers. While children in the lowfat dairy group consumed less calories and fat from dairy, they turned to other food and drinks to compensate, resulting in similar calorie consumption, with no significant differences in obesity or cardiovascular health recorded. “Our results suggest healthy children can safely consume whole fat dairy products without increased obesity or adverse cardio-metabolic effects,” said study lead Prof Therese O'Sullivan.

New responsible soya schemes for EU feed The European Compound Feed Manufacturers’ Federation (FEFAC) has announced that three new responsible soya schemes would be available to the EU feed market after passing independent benchmarking processes. FEFAC said the new schemes – Bunge Pro-S, CSQA (Italy) and USSEC SSAP – meant that 15 soya schemes were now compliant with the FEFAC Soy Sourcing Guidelines. The schemes complied with conversion-free soya criterion, which meant they offered responsibly-produced

soya grown on land that had not come at the expense of any (illegal or legal) conversion of natural eco-systems (including non-forest native vegetation in Brazil’s Cerrado Biome). “With a view to the announced European Commission proposal for deforestation-free supply chains and the COP26 pledge to end deforestation by 2030, we have demonstrated that the soya supply chain is ready to deliver a mainstream market supply of responsible soya to the European feed sector,” FEFAC said. www.ofimagazine.com

14/12/2021 15:11:31

BIOFUEL NEWS USA: Agribusiness leader Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) announced on 25 October that it had teamed up with renewable energy company Gevo to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). About 900M gallons of ethanol produced by ADM were expected to be processed into 1.8bn litres of SAF and other renewable hydrocarbons using Gevo technology. The companies said they planned to start SAF production in 2025/26. USA: British multinational oil and gas BP is investing around US$270M in three projects at its Cherry Point Refinery in Washington to improve the refinery’s efficiency, reduce its emissions and increase its renewable diesel production. This was in line with BP’s aim to be net zero across its operations by 2050 and to reduce the carbon intensity of its products by 50% by the same date, the company said on 4 October. One of the three projects was a US$45M renewable diesel optimisation project that would more than double the refinery’s production capability to an estimated 2.6M barrels/year, BP said. Cherry Point produces renewable diesel from biomass-based feedstocks, such as vegetable oils and rendered animal fats. The additional renewable diesel production was expected to be available this year.

Shell looks to Singapore to meet Asia SAF demand Global oil and gas multinational Royal Dutch Shell is proposing to build a biofuels plant in Singapore to meet the region’s rising demand for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), Reuters reported the company’s head of downstream business as saying on 24 November. The proposed 550,000 tonnes/year project at Singapore’s Bukom Island could produce SAF to supply major Asian hubs such as Hong Kong International Airport and Singapore’s Changi Airport, Shell downstream director Huibert Vigenovo was quoted as saying. “Many of the airlines are keen to talk to us,” he said. “I see a lot of growth in sustainable aviation fuel.” Following discussions with Asian airlines including Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines and Nippon Airlines, Vigenovo said that rising SAF demand was not limited to

Europe or the USA. As part of its bid to move away from fossil fuels, Shell was also building an 820,000 tonnes/ year biofuels plant in Rotterdam, Netherlands, according to the report, and was working with European airline KLM to test the blending of synthetic fuels. Globally, Shell aimed to produce about 2M tonnes/year of SAF by 2025, Reuters wrote. However, SAF accounted for less than 0.1% of today’s global jet fuel demand. The proposed biofuels plant in Singapore would also have flexibility to produce renewable diesel and bionaphtha feedstock for petrochemicals, Vigenovo said. As part of its transition to low-carbon fuel production, Shell had closed a crude distillation unit at Bukom, which had reduced its refining capacity by half, Vigenovo said.

First palm oil HVO plant set for Brazil Palm oil producer Brazil Biofuels (BBF) has teamed up with fuel distributor Vibra Energia to build the country’s first hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO) plant using palm oil feedstock, AgriCensus reported local media reports as saying. BBF would invest BRL1.8bn (US$323M) in the new unit, with operations due to start in Manaus, Amazonas state by 2025, the 24 November report said. Vibra Energia would commercialise the whole output of the plant, which would have an initial capacity to produce 500M litres/year of palm oil-based HVO. “Vibra has been contacted by clients such as the mining and agribusiness industries that need diesel to operate their supply chains and that have a decarbonisation agenda,” said Vibra’s executive operations director Marcelo Bragança. Brazil was looking at setting a 2% HVO biodiesel mandate but even without this, the outlook for HVO demand in the country was favourable, Bragança added.

Palm oil will be used as feedstock at BBF’s HVO plant in Manaus, Brazil

Photo: Adobe Stock

IN BRIEF

BBF said it would source palm oil from its units in the north of Brazil and from 10 new areas that it has mapped in the Amazon region, AgriCensus wrote.

Rabobank forecasts biofuel demand to halve by 2050 Biofuel demand is expected to halve by 2050, according to a new report by RaboResearch announced on 3 November. The decarbonisation of EU road transportation in the European Union (EU) will increasingly impact the demand for both fossil fuels and biofuels, particularly after 2030, according to the report. On 14 July, the European Commission proposed a package plan, ‘Fit for 55,’ to 10 OFI – JANUARY 2022

Biofuel news Jan 2022.indd 2

reduce gas emissions to at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990, the report said. Against this backdrop, electrification and hydrogen adoption in road transport would negatively impact demand for biofuels, particularly after 2030, Rabobank said. In the short-term until 2025, due to the higher replacement rate of diesel vehicles, Rabobank forecast that diesel and biodiesel demand would decline at the same rate of

almost 4% from 2020 levels. “By 2050, biofuel demand will be more than half lower than 2020 levels,” Rabobank senior analyst (sugar, grains & oilseeds) Maria Afonso said. However, feedstocks demand would not fall to the same extent, with the phasing out of palm oil in EU biofuel production through 2030 likely to drive competition between rapeseed oil and used cooking oil (UCO) to fill the gap. www.ofimagazine.com

09/12/2021 17:12:07

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RENEWABLE NEWS

Orlen Południe to produce propylene glycol ORLEN Group firm ORLEN Południe has announced the launch of a glycerine-based propylene glycol (PG) production unit at its Trzebinia biorefinery in Poland. The 30,000 tonnes/year unit has enough capacity to cover as much as 75% of domestic demand for the product, according to an ORLEN press release on 4 November. “Demand for this bio-based product is constantly growing in Europe and around the world,” Daniel Obajtek, president of the PKN ORLEN management board, said. Glycol is used for a wide range of appli-

BELGIUM: German speciality chemicals company Lanxess said on 13 October that it was partnering with global energy giant BP on a project to produce plastics from sustainable raw materials. BP would supply ‘green’ cyclohexane made from biobased feedstocks such as as rapeseed oil or biomass, to Lanxess’ production site in Antwerp. Lanxess uses cyclohexane as a precursor to produce polyamide 6, a high-performance plastic used in the automotive industry, electrical, and consumer goods sectors. SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi multinational chemical firm SABIC announced on 21 October that it has launched a portfolio of bio-based resins. The company said its new range of ULTEM resins was a drop-in material designed to replace current ULTEM materials in the consumer electronics, aerospace, automotive and other industries. Potential applications included mobile devices, car sensors and valves, airplane interiors and surgical devices and sterilisation trays in the healthcare sector. For every 100 kg of ULTEM resin produced, SABIC said it replaced 25.5kg of fossil-based feedstocks with materials derived from waste or residue, such as crude tall oil from the wood industry. 12 OFI – JANUARY 2022

Renewable news Jan 2022.indd 2

glycerine, ORLEN said. Due for completion in the first quarter of 2023, the plant would produce 30,000 tonnes/year of FAME and 7,000 tonnes/year of technical grade glycerine. “The UCO FAME plant will increase the supply of alternative second-generation biocomponents,” said Obajtek. ORLEN Południe is a leading Polish supplier of biofuels and biocomponents, which it produces at its Trzebinia refinery. PKN ORLEN is an oil refiner and petrol retailer.

Vantage to produce more surfactants US speciality chemicals company Vantage has announced that it would be increasing its production of surfactants and intermediates at its Leuna facility in Germany. The company said the move would help meet rising demand for mild and sustainable ingredients. “This production increase, which is in addition to a capacity expansion that we completed in October 2020, will enable Vantage to continue to… fulfil increasing demand for taurates, … at a time when many critical ingredient supplies are difficult to obtain and consumer interests are changing,” said Vantage senior vice president of Europe, Middle East & Africa Alexander Snell. Vantage’s sulphate-free surfactants are foam enhancers designed for applications for sensitive skin and scalp irritation in mild rinse-off for-

Photo: Adobe Stock

IN BRIEF

cations in a number of sectors, including medicine, cosmetics and the food industry. It can also be used in aviation as an anti-icing and de-icing agent for aircraft. Glycerine obtained at a planned biodiesel plant at the Trzebinia site would be used to make the PG, to be sold in Poland and overseas, the company said. ORLEN said it would also source glycerine from other Polish biodiesel producers. The new fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) plant would convert used cooking oil (UCO) and animal fats into biodiesel and

Vantage’s surfactants are foam enhancers designed for mild rinse-off formulations in shampoo, facial cleansers and bath additives

mulations in shampoo, facial cleansers and bath additives. Based on palm oil, Vantage’s Metaupon surfactants are compliant with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil’s (RSPO)’s mass balance criteria. The RSPO’s mass balance criteria relates to sustainable

palm oil from certified sources that has been mixed with ordinary palm oil throughout the supply chain. As part of the Metaupon range, Vantage supplies the precursor N-methyl taurin, sodium methyl cocoyl taurate and sodium methyl oleoyl taurate.

BASF announces 15-25% price increases German chemical and biotech giant BASF has announced that the price of all products in its Care Chemicals portfolio in North America would be increasing significantly. In its 1 November announcement, the company said the 15%-25% price increases would be effective from 1 December. “This price adjustment is driven primarily by significant volatility in pricing and availability of essential raw materials, continued escalation of domestic and transcontinental freight, increased packaging costs and rising energy costs,” the statement said.

BASF’s Care Chemicals division produces a range of ingredients for personal care, home care, industrial & institutional cleaning, and technical applications. It is also a leading supplier for the cosmetics industry as well as the detergents and cleaning industry. The division’s portfolio includes surfactants, emulsifiers, polymers, emollients, chelating agents, cosmetic active ingredients, UV filters and enzymes. BASF is organised into six segments: chemicals, materials, industrial solutions, surface technologies, nutrition & care and agricultural solutions. www.ofimagazine.com

14/12/2021 15:23:14

EMEA Av. del Acero 14-16,19200. Azuqueca de Henares, Guadalajara. (Spain) AMERICA Camino a Puremin 1100, 76700. Pedro Escobedo, Querétaro (Mexico)

TRANSPORT NEWS THE NETHERLANDS: Global Energy Storage (GES) announced on 11 November that it had bought assets in the Port of Rotterdam from commodity trading company the Gunvor Group. The energy storage firm said the deal to buy an interest in parts of the Stargate Terminal would involve the development of more than 20ha of land and included construction of a new jetty and infrastructure to consolidate storage for biofuels and renewable fuels. USA: Union workers at the Port of Seattle’s export grain terminal in North Harbour reached a deal with Dutch-headquartered Louis Dreyfus Co after three years of negotiations, World Grain reported on 26 October. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) said the agreement contained significant improvements, including wage parity with US-owned grain exporter TEMCO, a joint venture of Cargill and CHS which employed ILWU grain handlers at the ports of Tacoma and Kalama, Washington; and Portland, Oregon. ILWU said the agreement would also pave the way for negotiations with other foreign-based grain exporters including United Grain Corp owned by Japan’s Mitsui; Columbia Export Terminal owned by Japan’s Marubeni; and EGT owned by Korea-based Pan Ocean/Harim and US-based Bunge.

US infrastructure act to modernise transportation US President Joe Biden has signed a US$1.2trn infrastructure bill into law to finalise a key part of his economic agenda, CNN reported on 15 November. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will deliver US$550bn of new federal investments in the USA’s infrastructure over five years, including improvements to road, railways and waterways. The US Transportation Coalition said US agriculture and the soyabean industry, in particular, depended on a myriad of transportation modes to fulfil customer demands. “A soyabean’s journey requires rural roads and bridges, highways and interstates, freight railroads, the inland waterway system and ports. Adequately maintaining and investing in each of these modes will be essential to preserve the

profitability of the American soyabean farmer,” it said on its website. Barge transportation along the country’s inland waterway system, including locks and dams, was also vital as the most efficient way to transport soyabeans to export terminals for most key soyabean growing regions. The legislation would invest US$110bn for roads, bridges and other major infrastructure projects, significantly less than the US$159bn that Biden had initially requested in the American Jobs Plan, CNN wrote. Included was US$40bn for bridge repair and replacement, while port infrastructure and waterways would be improved with a US$17bn investment. The deal would also invest US$66bn in passenger and freight rail.

Animal by-products for biofuels at TEPSA Independent bulk liquid storage company TEPSA Tarragona (TEPSA) has been given approval to import animal by-products for biofuels production, Biofuels International reported on 22 October. Following authorisation from Spain’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, TEPSA can now import liquid animal by-products from outside the EU directly through the Dependent Inspection Centre at the Port of Tarragona. These products could only be imported previously after several bureaucratic processes, Biofuels International wrote. To qualify for the authorisation, TEPSA had to show that it had the appropriate infrastructure for the storage,

Photo: TEPSA

IN BRIEF

TEPSA has four terminals located in the main Iberian Peninsula ports of Barcelona, Bilbao, Tarragona and Valencia.

inspection and traceability of the products. According to el Mercantil, biofuels taffic at Tarragona port has shown growing demand, with the port moving 145,839 tonnes of the fuel in 2020.

Wholly-owned by RUBIS Terminal, TEPSA has 900,000m³ of storage capacity dedicated to petroleum products, chemicals, biofuels and foodstuffs across its four terminals.

Oilseeds and grains storage shortage reported in Brazil Farmers in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso have reported a shortage of grains and oilseeds storage, AgriCensus wrote. Limited storage options could particularly hit domestic corn supply at a time when Brazil prepared to harvest what was expected to be a bumper soyabean crop, the 13 October report said. “Farmers have been holding back on 14 OFI – JANUARY 2022

Transport news Jan 2022.indd 2

corn spot sales waiting for higher post-harvest prices but a ‘leftover’ pressure is likely ahead as producers need to sell off stocks to free up space for upcoming soyabeans,” HedgePoint Global’s Victor Martins said. “In January, this leftover pressure tends to hit the market,” he added. The shortage of silos and warehouses in Mato Grosso was structural as the state

had capacity to store up to 38M tonnes of grains and oilseeds from an estimated 2021/22 production of 77M tonnes, according to data from the country’s agriculture institute IMEA. Farmers in Mato Grosso had also been complaining about the shortage of storage capacity and high storage costs at third-party facilities, AgriCensus wrote. www.ofimagazine.com

09/12/2021 17:17:02

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OFI – JANUARY 2022

BIOTECH NEWS BRAZIL/ARGENTINA: On 11 November, Brazil's biosecurity agency CTNBio approved a GM variety of wheat developed in Argentina, becoming the first country to allow imports of flour made with GM wheat, Reuters reported. However, Brazilian millers had threatened to boycott Argentine grains, with flour milling assocation Abitrigo saying it was evaluating legal options to suspend the ruling. "The decision was by a technical agency but it is important to see what the Brazilian market wants," said Gustavo Idigoras, head of Argentina's CIARA-CEC chamber of grain exporters. Abitrigo said it would also ask the president's office to convene a national biosecurity committee to review CTNBio's decision. Around 55,000ha in Argentina had been planted with the GM wheat variety, developed by Bioceres SA, Reuters wrote. A Bioceres source said the company would seek approval from other key markets before seeking to commercially market the variety, which was resistant to drought and the herbicide, ammonium glufosinate. Argentina exported a total of 8.424M tonnes of wheat from 1 January-19 October in 2021, with around half going to Brazil, which relied on Argentina for most of its wheat imports, Reuters wrote.

China proposes changes to spur GM corn cultivation The Chinese government’s plans to change the country’s seed regulations are set to pave the way for the commercial production of genetically modified (GM) corn, Reuters reported on 14 November. Details of the regulatory overhaul of the seed industry were published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in a draft document on 12 November. The proposals meant that a handful of recently-approved GM traits developed by Chinese companies could be ready for market launch in a year, the report said. The move was a “big step”, according to Liu Shi, a vice president of Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group, which has several GM traits approved as

safe and was expected to be one of the first firms to commercialise GM corn in China. Last year, China’s leadership had called for an urgent “turnaround” in the seed industry, which was struggling with overcapacity and affected by infringement of intellectual property that had stifled innovation, Reuters wrote. Top policy-makers had also urged progress in biotech breeding or GM crops, seen as key to ensuring food security. China had invested heavily in GM research and development for years, the Reuters report said. However, Beijing had remained cautious, banning the planting of GM soyabeans or corn, while allowing imports for use in animal feed.

Bayer returns to profit despite lawsuits German chemical giant Bayer returned to profit in third quarter 2021 against a backdrop of US lawsuits involving its Roundup weedkiller, the Times of Malta wrote on 9 November. The company posted strong sales growth in its pharmaceutical, consumer health and crop divisions between July and September, according to the report. “We delivered strong operational performance, with all divisions showing strong growth momentum,” Bayer chairman Werner Baumann said when presenting the company’s third-quarter results ending 30 September. The company posted a net profit of US$97M in the third quarter, following losses in the previous three-month

Photo: Adobe Stock

IN BRIEF

Bayer has set aside billions of dollars to cover Roundup-related cancer lawsuits

period, and raised its group sales growth outlook to 7% for 2021. Bayer inherited the Roundup litigation in 2018 following its acquisition of the brand as part of its US$63bn purchase of global agrochemical company Monsanto. Since then, the

company has faced more than 125,000 lawsuits from cancer patients in the USA claiming that its glypohsate-based herbicides contributed to their non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The company has had to set aside billions of dollars to cover the cost of the lawsuits.

Calyxt says seedless hemp offered improved yields and quality

ADM completes acquisition of non-GM soya firm Sojaprotein Global agribusiness giant ADM announced on 29 November that it had completed its acquisition of Sojaprotein, a leading European provider of non-genetically modified (GM) soya ingredients. "The addition represents a significant expansion of our global alternative protein capabilities," ADM said. “Together, ADM and Sojaprotein are perfectly positioned as we work to meet the needs of European consumers who 16 OFI – JANUARY 2022

Biotech news Jan 2022.indd 2

are looking for locally-sourced, non-GMO plant-based ingredients in their food and beverages,” said Vince Macciocchi, president of ADM’s Nutrition business. Serbia-based Sojaprotein offers a range of non-GM vegetable protein ingredients to customers in the alternative meat, confectionery, protein bar, pharmaceutical, pet food and animal feed sectors, exporting to 65 countries. The company achieved more than

US$100M in sales in 2020. ADM said the addition of Sojaprotein to its portfolio was its latest significant investment in alternative proteins. Other additions included the company’s soya protein complex in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil; its new pea protein plant in Enderlin, North Dakotam USA; its PlantPlus Foods joint venture; and partnership start-ups such as Air Protein. www.ofimagazine.com

14/12/2021 15:33:50

DIARY OF EVENTS 17-20 January 2022

27-28 April 2022

20-23 June 2022

National Biodiesel Conference & Expo Las Vegas, USA www.biodieselconference.org

10th European Algae Industry Summit Reykjavik Iceland www.wplgroup.com/aci/event/europeanalgae-industry-summit/

20th International Sunflower Conference Novi Sad, Serbia www.isasunflower.org/news-events/ news/article/20th-internationalsunflower-conference-novi-sad-serbia1%EF%BB%BF

24-28 January 2022 Fuels of the Future 2022 (Online) www.fuels-of-the-future.com/en 2-3 February 2022 Lignofuels 2022 Helsinki, Finland www.wplgroup.com/aci/event/ lignocellulosic-fuel-conference-europe/ 4-5 February 2022 2022 Canadian Lipids and Proteins Conference (Online) www.aocs.org/attend-meetings/ canadian-lipids-and-proteins-conference 9-10 February 2022 Future of Surfactants Summit Barcelona, Spain www.wplgroup.com/aci/event/ surfactants-summit 7-9 March 2022 Palm and Lauric Oils Price Outlook Conference (POC) 2022 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia www.pocmalaysia.com 14-16 March 2022 15th Annual International Biomass Conference & Expo Jacksonville, Florida, USA www.biomassconference.com/ema/ DisplayPage.aspx?pageId=Home 15-16 March 2022 13th Biofuels International Conference & Expo Brussels, Belgium https://biofuels-news.com/conference/ biofuels/biofuels_index_2022.php 22-25 March 2022 Australian Industrial Hemp Conference Tasmania, Australia https:// australianindustrialhempconference.com

For a full events list, visit: www.ofimagazine.com Information subject to change www.ofimagazine.com

Diary Jan 2022 version without POC.indd 1

1-4 May 2022 AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo Atlanta, Georgia USA https://annualmeeting.aocs.org 8-10 May 2022 Globoil International 2022 Dhaka Bangladesh www.globoilinternational.com 10-12 May 2022 FENAGRA – Brazilian Rendering Congress Campinas, São Paulo Brazil www.fenagra.com.br 18-19 May 2022 Oleofuels 2022 Marseille France www.wplgroup.com/aci/event/oleofuels 23-25 May 2022 4th International Symposium on Lipid Oxidation and Antioxidants Vigo Spain https://veranstaltungen.gdch.de/tms/ frontend/index.cfm?l=11144&modus= 25-28 May 2022 EFPRA Congress 2022 Algarve Portugal https://efpra2022algarve.com

23 August-3 September 2022 World Congress on Oleo Science (Online) https://jocs.jp/en/conference-meeting 8-9 September 2022 High Oleic Congress 2022 Madrid, Spain http://higholeicmarket.com/hoc-2019/ 12-16 September 2022 oils+fats@Drinktec Messe Munich Germany www.oils-and-fats.com/index.html 20-21 September 2022 Palmex Malaysia 2022 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia http://asiapalmoil.com 23-28 October 2022 North American Renderers Association Annual Convention Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel Dana Point California, USA https://nara.org/about-us/events 25-27 October 2022 Palmex Indonesia 2022 Medan, Indonesia http://palmoilexpo.com 17-20 September 2023

7-8 June 2022

Euro Fed Lipid Congress & Expo Poznań, Poland https://eurofedlipid.org/

IGC Grains Conference 2022 London UK www.igc.int/en/conference/confhome. aspx?email=register

16 International Rapeseed Congress Sydney, Australia www.irc2023sydney.com

13-15 June 2022

24-27 October 2023

2022 International Fuel Ethanol (FEW) Workshop & Expo Minneapolis, USA www.fuelethanolworkshop.com/ema/ DisplayPage.aspx?pageId=Home

North American Renderers Association Annual Convention Ritz Carlton, Naples Florida, USA https://nara.org/about-us/events

24-27 September 2023

OFI – JANUARY 2022

15/12/2021 11:13:27

INTERNATIONAL MARKET REVIEW

Palm and rapeseed oils have been the big disappointments in global vegetable oil supply. The problem began towards the end of the 2019/2020 season (ending 30 September) when world palm oil output dropped by around 1M tonnes and stalled at just under 73M tonnes. This shocked a market previously enjoying decades of growth, which collapsed prices to around U$450/tonne and encouraged consumption. The spectre of tightening palm oil supply has been enough to propel the market to multi-year highs, recently peaking near US$1,300/tonne. The broader vegetable oil market followed (see Figure 1, right), acknowledging palm oil’s 35%-plus share of total oil consumption. While world number one palm oil producer Indonesia has seen some output recovery, the expected rally in second largest source Malaysia’s output has been hesitant at best (see Figure 2, following page). Therefore, forecasts like the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s 5% or 3.67M tonnes rise in global palm supply for the October/September 2021/22 season might be questioned over the months ahead. As well as uncooperative weather, palm oil supply has been interrupted by COVID lockdowns on this highly labour-intensive plantation industry. Faith in the forward picture has been fed by ideas that things will ease in 2022 and that recent excessive rains may work through to higher longer-term palm oil yields, although past lack of fertiliser and plantation maintenance may yet fully play out. Time will tell. Either way, palm oil stocks have run down and will take some time to loosen enough to push down prices, especially as Indonesia still seems intent on using more of the oil for biofuel. Food demand for palm oil has been remarkably resilient in the face of constantly rising costs. Among the ‘Big Three’ importers, India made a comeback 18 OFI – JANUARY 2022

John Buckley Jan 2022.indd 2

Larger oilseed supplies needed

Graph: John Buckley

Crop recovery hopes seemed to curb rocketing vegetable oil prices in the run-up to the 2021 Northern Hemisphere oilseed harvests but supply shortfalls and strong biofuel markets have pushed some items to record highs John Buckley

Figure 1: Crude vegetable oil prices (US$/tonne) in 2020/21, with an estimated import of 8.47M tonnes after dropping to just 7.4M tonnes in 2019/20. The Indian import forecast is 8.6M tonnes for 2021/22. With most of its oil consumption growth focused on soyabean, China has made minimal contributions to palm oil trade growth since a 1.5M tonne jump to 6.8M tonnes in 2018/19. For 2021/22, some analysts are forecasting 7.2M tonnes of palm oil imports for China. Europe’s palm oil imports went into decline last season (2020/2021) from 7.1M tonnes to 6.2M tonnes as high prices and environmental pressures saw the bloc’s relatively modest oil consumption growth go to sunflower and soyabeans oils. Environmental issues appear to be warming up again after the recent UN climate talks and remain a potential dampener on EU demand. The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) cut its 2021 annual production estimate for the country from 19.7M tonnes to 18M tonnes, citing COVID disruptions. Higher prices in 2021 reportedly persuaded Malaysia’s government to welcome thousands of immigrant workers to keep plantations running closer to capacity. Longer term, it will invest US$1.5bn to renew expansion, although the plan is a 10-year one. The Indonesian palm oil association

GAPKI recently reined back a 2022 output forecast from 49M tonnes to 47.5M tonnes. Indonesia could meanwhile struggle to meet its ambitious palm biodiesel blending targets as higher input cost cuts profitability. Indonesian unblended biodiesel consumption was expected to reach 10M kilolitres in 2021, an increase of 8.7% from 2020.

Soyabean supplies to rise

Supplies of soyabean oil are expected to rise by 2.4M tonnes or 4% in this 2021/22 season, backed by a large US crop recovery and expected record crops from top producer Brazil and neighbouring Argentina. While soyabean oil prices have been dragged up by palm and rapeseed oils – and soya’s own increasing usage in US biodiesel – they could ease back as larger supplies come on line. So far, Latin American producers have had mostly good weather for a fast start to planting. Including Paraguay, they could supply 204M tonnes of soyabeans from first quarter 2022 onward, against last year’s 194M tonnes and the previous season’s 187.5M tonnes. US soyabean production also looks likely to gain extra land in 2022 as rocketing costs of agro-chemicals push out its main rival – input-hungry maize. u The 70% of global soya output based in

www.ofimagazine.com

15/12/2021 10:47:08

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OFI – JANUARY 2022

Figure 2: World palm oil production falters (million tonnes) u the Southern Hemisphere will not arrive until first quarter 2022 onwards so South American weather watching will be a key price driver in the months ahead. At this stage, most analysts do not expect a big recovery in world soyabean stocks, depleted heavily by earlier crop shortfalls. However, neither is demand showing vigorous growth potential. Within top customer China, months of negative crush margins and poor pork producer profits saw imports lower than expected, making for a flat growth forecast for the 2021/22 season. The USDA forecasts China’s total soyabean meal consumption at 76.6M tonnes against 72.7M tonnes in 2020/21. However, China imported 41% less soyabeans in October 2021 than in October 2020. Sky-high soyabean prices in the Northern Hemisphere summer months, when Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) futures exceeded US$16/bushel (against US$8-$10 in the previous five years) did not help demand from this and other outlets. As a result, crush growth seems to be shifting from China towards the North and South American producer countries. US soyabean oil exports fell sharply and are forecast to dip again in 2021/22 but may be offset by domestic use in biofuels – expected to rise by around 25% to almost 5M tonnes. Support has come from high crude petroleum oil prices, which started 2021 at around US$47/ barrel and recently neared US$85/barrel before reversing to below US$67/barrel. The USDA foiled forecasters by reducing rather than raising its 2021 US soyabean crop estimate, still up 5% on 2020 but not enough to stop Brazil’s expected record crop expanding its share 20 OFI – JANUARY 2022

John Buckley Jan 2022.indd 3

Graphs: John Buckley

INTERNATIONAL MARKET REVIEW

Figure 3: World rapeseed stocks (million tonnes)

of world exports to a forecast 54.7% from last season’s 49.5%.

Multi-year low canola stocks

Drought and heatwaves in top canola producer Canada have slashed its crop from 2020’s 19.5M tonnes to under 13M tonnes for 2021, denying consumers an expected large recovery in rapeseed oil supplies and keeping this oil in the front row of bull factors. Canada’s shortfall eclipsed gains in other key areas including Europe, Australia, Russia and Ukraine, leaving world production at about 5M tonnes lower than 2020’s 72.7M tonnes. The impact on seasonal carryover stocks has been dramatic. The world canola inventory is expected to drop to a multi-year low of just over 4M tonnes in this 2021/22 season compared with over 9.9M tonnes in 2018/19. Rapeseed oil stocks this season are predicted to hit 2.64M tonnes compared with the peak 6.66M tonnes reached in 2014/15. Tight stocks are leaving this market very exposed to any further weather upsets. The low exportable supply will also push import-dependent consumers like Europe, Asian and MENA countries into fiercer than usual competition. Bellwether markets like the Winnipeg and Paris futures contracts have risen sharply, both reaching new peaks at the end of 2021. For the 2020/21 oil season, crude bulk canola oil averaged US$1,279/ tonne, 45.5% more than in the previous marketing year. These prices have spurred larger plantings for 2022. Europe is forecast to sow 7% more canola and the former USSR and Australia should follow suit. Australian analysts have just forecast a record 2021/22 crop of 5.035-5.16M

tonnes, about 18-20% or almost 900,000 tonnes more than the previous season. Statistics Canada, meanwhile, was due to update its own troubled crop estimate, expected in the 11.5M-13M tonne range. Top EU canola producer France is expected to plant up to 20% more of the crop this year while Ukraine, a key source of EU canola imports, has faced some unfavourably dry sowing weather. EU forward futures suggest rapeseed will be cheaper this time in 2022.

Sunflowerseed crops rise

Sunflowerseed growers have produced a better than expected crop, rising from just under 50M tonnes globally in 2020 to morer than 56M tonnes in 2021. The extra supplies are mostly in Europe (10.2M tonnes in 2021 versus against 2020’s 8.9M tonnes) and the mega producers of the former USSR – Ukraine up from 14.1M tonnes to 17M tonnes; and Russia from 13.3M to 15M tonnes. The current forecast for world sunflower oil supplies is 21.8M tonnes, up 2.6M tonnes or 14% in 2021/22 against the previous season. This should help heavier users like Europe’s food industries make up for the lack of rapeseed oil and unusually expensive palm oil. However, improvements in sunflower and soya supplies have been slow to reduce costs. Crude sunflower oil’s monthly average prices did dip from a mid-2021 high of around US$1,640/tonne to US$1,335/ tonne at one stage but climbed back towards US$1,500/tonne by October. In the Northern Hemisphere – which harvests these crops first – the 2021/22 season’s supplies are only just coming in. ● John Buckley is OFI’s market correspondent www.ofimagazine.com

15/12/2021 10:47:12

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PALM OIL

As the top consumed and produced vegetable oil in the world, palm oil remains the focus of the global edible oils and fats market. Production is expected to rise modestly while consumption will increase due to the recovery of the global economy, with prices expected to remain firm Dato’ Dr Wan Zawawi Wan Ismail Global palm oil production is forecast to reach 76.5M tonnes in 2021, an increase of 2M tonnes compared with 74.5M tonnes in 2020, the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC)’s Palm Oil Internet Seminar (POINTERS) heard on 18-24 October. The increase in production would come from Indonesia as rival producer Malaysia would see a fall in output for a second consecutive year due to labour shortages and COVID movement restrictions, MPOC chief executive officer Dato’ Dr Wan Zawawi Wan Ismail said. Indonesia and Malaysia contribute to 85% of global palm oil production, with the remainder supplied by Thailand, Colombia and Papua New Guinea. Malaysian crude palm oil (CPO) production was 19.9M tonnes in 2019, 19.1M tonnes in 2020 and forecast to fall to 18.4M tonnes in 2021 as the country had been severely affected by labour shortages on plantations and erratic weather conditions, Wan Zawawi said. Indonesian CPO production was 44.3M tonnes in 2019, 43M tonnes in 2020 and 22 OFI – JANUARY 2022

Palm oil.indd 2

Photo: Adobe Stock

Leader of the pack

forecast to rise to 45.5M tonnes in 2021 as the country had increased its planted area by 200,000ha this year.

Global market share

Palm oil will remain the most produced and consumed oil worldwide in 2021, according to Wan Zawawi. As a share of global oils and fats production, palm oil is forecast to account for a 32% or 76.5M tonnes share in 2021, followed by soyabean oil at 25% or 60.3M tonnes (see Figure 1, p24). In terms of global consumption, palm oil would also account for the largest share at 31% or 76.8M tonnes, followed by soyabean oil at 25% or 59.9M tonnes (see Figure 2, p24). The 1.3M tonnes rise in palm oil consumption in 2021 compared with 2020 is a result of increased demand due to the resumption of economic activities in several markets following the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Wan Zawawi. This could be seen in the hotel, restaurant and catering (HORECA) sector, as well as in non-food applications such as personal care, detergents and soap.

Top palm oil markets

As top importers of vegetable oils, China, the EU and India have a major impact on the global oils and fats market, Wan

Zawawi told the POINTERS seminar. China’s total consumption of oils and fats was 40M tonnes in 2020, about 33% of which was met through imports of edible oils, Wan Zawawi said. In addition, China imported about 89% of the oilseeds it required for domestic crushing. Soyabean was the largest consumed edible oil (17M tonnes) in China, followed by palm oil (6.9M tonnes). “China’s oils and fats demand in 2021 will see stronger growth due to low stock levels and its recovery from the COVID pandemic,” Wan Zawawi said. However, palm oil demand could be limited by its narrowing discount against soyabean oil – at CNY874 (US$136)/ tonne in June 2020 against CNY492 (US$77)/tonne in June 2021. Chinese palm oil demand was plateauing as there would be more soyabean oil available due to increased crushing of soyabeans for meal, as the country’s pig herd recovered from African swine flu, the POINTERS seminar heard. Nonetheless, reports of low inventories was expected to drive stronger imports of edible oils, including palm. China’s total palm oil imports for 2021 was forecast at 6.8M tonnes, with Malaysia accounting for 1.7M tonnes. “China is a refined oil market which

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21/12/2021 11:42:25

PALM OIL is very sensitive to price, hence Indonesian suppliers are seen to be more competitive,” Wan Zawawi said. The EU is another major consumer of oils and fat, with consumption totalling some 33.7M tonnes in 2020, of which around 41% was met by imported edible oils. Rapeseed oil is the most consumed oil in the region, at around 8.9M tonnes, followed by palm oil at 8M tonnes in 2020, according to Wan Zawawi. The EU imported 13.9M tonnes of edible oils in 2020, palm oil being the top import at 8.2M tonnes, with Malaysia contributing approximately 2.1M tonnes of the palm oil import share. Palm oil competed with local oilseed production, including expanding domestic soyabean cultivation. EU member states were also updating their domestic biofuel policies in light of the region’s updated Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) and its Delegated Act governing high-risk indirect land use change (ILUC) biofuels. “The number of EU states announcing early adoption of RED II is increasing gradually and adversely affecting imports of palm oil into the region,” Wan Zawawi said.

COVID measures in the EU had also affected demand in the HORECA and transport sectors. “With the above challenges, it is forecast that there will be a downturn in palm oil imports in the EU, with total palm oil imports estimated at 7.8M tonnes in 2021, and Malaysian imports reaching 1.7M tonnes.” India continues to be a major player in the oils and fats market and is a key export destination for any exporting country, the POINTERS seminar heard. India’s total consumption of oils and fats was 23.7M tonnes in 2020, about 56% of which was met with imported vegetable oils. Palm oil was the most widely consumed oil in the country, with a market share of 34% in 2020, down from 41% in 2019 due to the impact of COVID on palm oil usage, especially in the HORECA sector. Soyabean and sunflower oils accounted for a 27% and 18% market share respectively. Palm oil import accounted for 54% of India’s oils and fats imports in 2020. “The existing export levy and duty in Indonesia makes Malaysian CPO more competitive in India, which has led to a

significant increase of Malaysian CPO exports to the country,” Wan Zawawi said. However, several policy changes in India could have an impact on Malaysian palm oil exports. India lifted restrictions on refined palm oil imports from July to December 2021. “This might change the preferences of palm oil importers and we may see more palm olein going into India in the last quarter of 2021.” The progressive opening up of the country’s HORECA sector had led to higher palm oil intake and India was expected to increase edible oil imports in 2021. India’s palm oil imports were forecast at 8.7M tonnes for 2021, with Malaysian imports estimated at 3.5M tonnes.

Malaysian exports

Malaysia exported 11.24M tonnes of palm oil in the first three quarters of 2021, a fall of 12% against 12.8M tonnes in 2020, due to lower CPO production. The country’s top 10 export destinations were India, China, the Netherlands, Turkey, Pakistan, Philippines, Kenya, Iran, Japan and South Korea, which imported 11.2M tonnes of palm oil from January-September 2021, compared with u

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PALM OIL

Source: Oil World

Figure 1: Palm oil’s share of global oils and fats production (‘000 tonnes)

u 12.8M tonnes in the same period in 2020. India and China accounted for 33% of Malaysian palm oil exports. Iran, Turkey and Kenya showed significant increases in imports in 2021, Wan Zawawi added. Turkey and Iran were replenishing stocks impacted by lower than expected domestic oils and fats production in the first half of 2021. A strong import surge in Kenya was due to increased demand coming from local refiners, who also re-exported palm oil to land-locked neighbouring countries such as Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. As refined oil markets, China and Pakistan were attracted by competitive prices and terms and palm oil exports to the two countries declined. Malaysian palm oil exports to the Netherlands also declined due to lower demand from the biodiesel industry.

Figure 2: Palm oil’s share of global oils and fats consumption (‘000 tonnes)

F= forecast

Source: Oil World

Prices

Source: Oil World, Malaysian Palm Oil Council estimates

Figure 4: Tracking CPO price against stock-to-use ratio 24 OFI – JANUARY 2022

Palm oil.indd 4

Source: Malaysian Palm Oil Council

Figure 3: Global palm oil production, trade, consumption and stocks, 2017-2021 (‘000 tonnes)

The year 2021 had seen record high vegetable oil prices, rising in January to May due to supply concerns, Wan Zawawi said. Prices stabilised in June as oilseeds, especially soyabeans, showed better than expected results but picked up again in August due to lower palm oil production and concerns over higher Brent crude oil prices. The price trend was also reflected in palm oil prices, which started 2021 at RM3,700 (US$891)/tonne and rose to above RM4,500 (US$1,084) in May, with October delivery prices exceeding RM5,000 (US1,204)/tonne. Overall, production of the 17 global oils and fats is forecast to total 242M tonnes in 2021, a 4.2M tonnes or 1.7% increase, while consumption would be 241M tonnes, a rise of 2.6M tonnes or 1.1%, Wan Zawawi said. Ending stocks were projected at 32.2M tonnes, an increase of 2.8%, reflecting a marginal increase in the stock-to-use ratio. Factors such as higher consumption of palm oil and increased demand pointed to a consolidation of CPO prices, the POINTERS seminar heard. With Indonesia the only palm oil producer expected to see increased production in 2021 and other countries likely to see a fall in production for the second consecutive year, the CPO average price was projected at RM4,121 (US$993)/tonne for 2021 to reach an average annual high or RM4,745 (US$1,143)/tonne and not lower RM3,517 (US$847) tonne, Wan Zawawi concluded. ● Dato’ Dr Wan Zawawi Wan Ismail is the CEO of the Malaysian Palm OIl Council www.ofimagazine.com

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Photo: Adobe Stock

RENDERING

Repurposing is the purpose Rendering has been at the heart of Darling Ingredients, which has grown from a US fertiliser and candles firm into a leading global supplier of ingredients for human and animal food, beauty and pharmaceutical products, with renewable diesel and collagen being its two fastest growing segments Ile Kauppila As an industry, rendering is often overshadowed by its more immediate related industries, such as farming and meat production. But although it may not hog the spotlight, rendering is invaluable in ensuring the sustainability and profitability of animal production. According to the North American Renderers Association (NARA), roughly 50% of every animal raised for human consumption on a farm is considered “inedible.” This proportion varies globally, since some animal parts that are treated as inedible in some countries are prized www.ofimagazine.com

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delicacies in others, but the bottom line is clear – a large portion of each animal doesn’t go towards human consumption. In North America, for example, farms, slaughter facilities and feedlots produce more than 28M tonnes/year of inedible co-products from the meat industry, says NARA. Without rendering, this massive amount of fat, oil, meat, bone, and other animal materials would only end up in compost or landfills. Rendering recycles these materials into useful products, such as high-quality food and animal ingredients, pet food and biofuels.

At the forefront of the global rendering industry is Darling Ingredients, headquartered in Texas, USA. The company was founded by Ira C Darling as a partnership between a meatpacking business and the Darling family fertiliser firm. Darling chairman and CEO Randall Stuewe tells Oils & Fats International that the company has grown from its humble beginnings – making fertiliser and candles – into a leading developer and producer of sustainable organic ingredients. “Rendering has been the foundation of our business from day one,” says Stuewe. “We were typically known as the ‘invisible industry,’ quietly diverting meatpacking residuals from filling up America’s landfills. We were ‘green before green was cool’ and sustainability came to be in vogue.” Stuewe adds that rendering companies like Darling serve as “gatekeepers,” cutting greenhouse gas emissions from decomposing animal matter and preventing pathogens from contaminating our lands and groundwater. At the same time, their rigorous security and testing procedures safeguard the global food chain, from farm to table.

‘Business is good’

Indeed, the rendering industry serves a noble purpose, but how is that business doing? Stuewe has only one thing to say in response: “Business is good!” Numbers certainly back up his claim. Darling Ingredients’ 2020 EBITDA grew 13.8% over 2019, even in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, which Fortune Business Insights says has caused significant strain on the global rendering industry. The fair weather has continued – in mid-2021, Darling’s EBITDA was again 56% higher than at the same time in the previous year. Stuewe attributes Darling’s growth to the hard work of its more than 10,000 employees and the success of its Diamond Green Diesel (DGD) 50/50 renewable diesel joint venture with Valero Energy Corporation. Another factor was the company’s move in refreshing its corporate focus in 2020. As a result, Darling’s product lines are now better aligned with the end markets that benefit from them. “Everything we do has some link to the repurposing of food co-products. Our product applications can now be found in the health, nutrients and bioenergy sectors, while we’re optimising our services to the food industry,” Stuewe says. Darling has a wide established product catalogue, supplying ingredients for both human and animal food, beauty and pharmaceutical products, and fertilisers. u But the company’s two fastest growing OFI – JANUARY 2022

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Photo: Adobe Stock

RENDERING

Darling Ingredients collects used cooking oil (UCO) from restaurants and food service outlets and processes this to supply biofuel and animal feed markets

u business segments are in renewable diesel and collagen. The DGD renewable diesel venture is directly or vertically linked to Darling Ingredients’ rendering services, explains Stuewe. The company collects animal fats and used cooking oil (UCO), which are processed at one of the over 200 Darling locations globally, and then transported primarily by rail and trucks to the DGD renewable diesel facility, located in Norco, Louisiana, just outside of New Orleans. The facility uses an advanced hydroprocessing and isomerisation process, in combination with a pretreatment method, to convert the fats and oils into renewable diesel, naphtha and other light hydrocarbons. The DGD joint venture sells its renewable diesel or low-carbon fuel both domestically in the USA and in foreign markets, primarily in Canada and Europe. Darling’s Rousselot brand is also a global leader in collagen products. It serves food, nutritional, pharmaceutical and technical industries in more than 75 countries in China, Europe, South America, and the USA. Darling operates 11 production plants under the brand, processing pigskin, hide, bone and fish. Out of all the markets Darling Ingredients is active in across its entire business line, Stuewe says the most significant ones are North America and Europe, followed by China and South America. In the rendering segment, Darling is the largest independent rendering company 26 OFI – JANUARY 2022

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in the world, holding a leading market position in the USA, Canada, and Europe.

Sustainable processes

Stuewe says that Darling collects the raw materials for its rendering operations in two ways. The first method applies to large-scale suppliers, such as slaughterhouses. For these companies, Darling provides collection services to pick up materials during the day and process it by the following night. For smaller suppliers, including grocery stores and butcher shops, the company provides both containers and collection. “The containers are picked up by, or emptied into, our trucks on a periodic basis. The raw materials we collect are transported either directly to a processing plant or to a transfer station, where materials from several collection routes are loaded into trailers and transported to a processing plant. These raw materials are delivered to plants for processing usually within 24 hours of collection to avoid spoilage,” explains Stuewe. Once at a facility, Darling grinds and heats the collected materials to separate fats and evaporate water, and sterilise them to make them suitable for animal feed applications. The separated tallow, fat, and grease are centrifuged and refined to high purity, while oils are pressed out of the remaining solids to create protein meals. The end products of the process include tallow, bone and meat meal, protein meal and various other meals.

“In addition, at certain facilities, we are able to operate multiple process lines simultaneously, which provides us with the flexibility and capacity to manufacture a line of premium and value-added products in addition to our principal finished products. Because of these processing controls, we are able to produce value-added ingredients that typically have higher protein and energy content and lower moisture,” Stuewe says. When it comes to UCO, Darling collects this from restaurants and food service establishments, which are provided with several different container types, each with an unloading method best suited for them. The collected UCO is heated, settled, and purified, and supplied to the biofuels and animal feed markets. Throughout its sourcing and production processes, Darling Ingredients places a great emphasis on upholding the rendering industry’s sustainability goals. Their efforts have not gone unnoticed. In April 2021, Bloomberg and TBD Media Group named Darling Ingredients as one of the 50 climate leaders in the international business community. They went as far as to call Darling “the greenest company on the planet”. “Our purpose is to repurpose,” Stuewe summarises. “The world food supply chain depends on us to connect global supply and demand contributing to a circular economy. Darling is circular by nature and the essence of a circular economy.”

Weathering the pandemic

When asked about Darling’s single most significant success story, Stuewe returns to the DGD renewable diesel. When Darling entered the joint venture in 2011, it was among the industry’s pioneers in North America. Stuewe says this timely decision gave Darling a first mover advantage. “Renewable diesel produced from Darling’s vertically integrated supply of waste fats and oils reduces tail pipe emissions from the transportation industry by up to 85% compared to regular petroleum diesel. We are well positioned to capitalise on the increased demand for lower carbon fuels as states and countries develop aggressive reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions,” notes Stuewe. But it hasn’t been all plain sailing for Darling. Although the company weathered the pandemic, Stuewe says that the early days were unpredictable for the entire rendering industry, including Darling Ingredients. Market research backs his evaluation. Fortune Business Insights data shows that in the USA, for example, the rendered products segment shrunk by

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09/12/2021 17:23:48

RENDERING nearly 25% between 2019 and 2020. “Our raw material suppliers, the animal slaughter facilities, came under tremendous labour pressure, with animals going to market and limited workforce to process the meat supply,” Stuewe says. He adds that there was also a decrease in the company’s UCO supply as the public moved from restaurants to eating at home. That particular supply issue, however, was solved fairly quickly as the food industry transitioned to home delivery service. Darling Ingredients was also designated an essential business, which allowed it to remain operational despite the various lockdown measures enacted in the countries the company operates in. Stuewe, however, notes that the firm has complied with national and regional government protocols as necessary. “Our priority during the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be protecting the health and safety of our employees, while providing essential services to the industries and communities we serve. While 2020 was a difficult year, Darling learned to adapt in the face of the unprecedented challenges and is grateful for the resilience of its global team of

employees who worked hard to ensure business continuity,” he says.

Growth of rendered products

Having survived the worst of the pandemic, Darling is now looking forward to the future. Although the industry took a hit between 2019 and 2020, market analysts expect the segment to see steady growth going forward. This is because demand for rendered animal products has remained stable — the COVID pandemic merely disrupted the supply chains, leading to a shortfall in raw materials and a subsequent fall in production. Fortune Business Insights projects the rendered products market to grow at a CAGR of 2.3% up to 2027, when the market is expected to be valued at US$24.64bn. Compared to the value of US$21.89bn in 2019, this projection marks a 12.5% increase in market value. This boost is driven by a growing demand for value-added animal feed and increasing concerns over environmental sustainability. Tallow, in particular, is seen as a growth driver for the segment, due to the high demand for repurposed animal coproducts in the low-carbon fuel market. Tallow’s widespread use as an ingredient

Sustainable

and cooking oil, on top of end-user applications in candle, soap and lubricant production further increase demand. North America is projected to remain the leading market for the rendering industry, with Asia Pacific growing rapidly. Fortune Business Insights attributes the growth in the latter market to its rising population, evolving economies and booming animal feed sector. Market leaders in the industry include Allanasons, Darling Ingredients, JBS, Leo Group, Nordfeed, Sanimax and Tyson Foods. On Darling’s part, Stuewe says the firm plans to focus on the growth of its global ingredients business. “We believe that the world continues to be protein short and demand for more meat protein will drive higher volumes of animal production, which should lead to more opportunity for what Darling does today,” he explains. Stuewe adds that rising initiatives for low-carbon fuels are expected to continue the success of the company’s DGD renewable diesel production. “This should result in increasing demand for waste fats and oils for the production of low-carbon fuels for years to come,” he concludes. ● Ile Kauppila is a former assistant editor of Oils & Fats International

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LAURIC OILS The Philippines is the world’s largest exporter of coconut products and coconut oil is its largest agricultural export. Production is challenged by ageing trees, inadequate infrastructure and typhoons but a new coconut trust fund worth over US$1.5bn is expected to benefit smallholders and modernise the industry

Coconuts in the Philip The Philippines is the world’s second largest coconut producer and number one exporter of coconut products. Coconut is very important for the Philippine economy and provides a livelihood for one-third of the population, employing some 25M people, according to the article, ‘Overview and constraints of the coconut supply chain in the Philippines’, published in the International Journal of Fruit Science (IJFS) in April 2020. The industry is the largest employer of agricultural land and labour and is considered a predictor of the general economic activity of the country. In addition, the export of coconut products serves as the nation’s prime foreign exchange earner, the IJFS article says. The Philippines produces a variety of coconut products – fresh coconut, copra, coconut oil, copra cake, desiccated coconut, coconut shell, shell charcoal, shell flour, coconut husk, mattress coir fibre, coir bristle, coir dusts and shots, whole nuts, husked coconuts and coconut water. Its top five exported coconut products are coconut oil, copra cake, desiccated coconut, shell charcoal and activated carbon, respectively, according to the IJFS article. 28 OFI – JANUARY 2022

Coconut oil.indd 2

Exports of coconut products account for some 80% of production while 20% is consumed domestically. Coconut oil (CNO) is the largest Philippine agricultural export, accounting for 22% of agricultural export earnings in 2016. Top markets for CNO are the EU and the USA. Coconut oil is derived from copra, which is the dried kernel or ‘meat’ of the coconut, while virgin coconut oil is extracted from fresh coconut milk. Although global demand and prices for coconut oil remain high, the industry in the Philippines is challenged by old, unproductive trees, low levels of investments, inadequate infrastructure support, a poor farm to market road system, and a disorganised supply chain, according to the Philippines Oilseeds and Products Annual report published by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) in April 2021.

Production

The Philippines has around 3.5M ha planted to coconuts, which cover around a quarter of overall agricultural lands, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). The main growing region is

concentrated on Mindanao island, specifically in Davao Region, Northern Mindanao and Zamboanga Peninsula. These three Mindanao regions produce some 60% of the country’s coconuts, followed by Luzon and Visayas regions, says the IJFS article. The PSA tracks the number of nutbearing coconut trees, with 2019 being the most recent data available, according to the USDA report. PSA reported 348M coconut trees in 2019, flat from 2018’s level, yielding around 14bn nuts. The number of trees through 2022 is seen modestly increasing, as replanting efforts of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) are expected to replace trees destroyed by Typhoons Rolly, Quinta and Ulysses that battered mainly Quezon and Bicol provinces during the last two months of 2020. Preliminary data from the PCA show 48.623M trees were damaged by the three typhoons, of which 33.791M were moderately damaged, 14.228M heavily damaged, and 581,000 totally damaged. Moderately damaged trees lose about 30% of mature coconuts due to nut fall and may recover after six months at the earliest. Heavily damaged trees have about 50% immature nut fall and may

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LAURIC OILS

Photo: Adobe Stock

Coconuts may start to bear fruit after six to 10 years but take around 15-20 years to reach their peak and have a lifespan of 80-90 years

lippines recover after two to three years, while totally damaged trees have no chance of recovery due to their crowns being destroyed. All told, PCA estimates production loss in nut terms at 77.478M spread over two to three years. The country’s 348M coconut trees yield over 14bn nuts annually but an estimated 20% of the trees are old and unproductive and need to be replaced. Coconut trees have an 80-90 year lifespan. They may start to bear nuts after six to 10 years but take around 15-20 years to reach their peak. The present average productivity has fallen drastically to 38-40 nuts per tree/ year (840 kg/ha copra equivalent) from the ideal 75 nuts per tree/year, says the IJFS article.

Coconut products

According to the IJFS article, the Philippines’ coconut industry is categorised into the kernel, husk and shell sectors. The kernel industry utilises the coconut meat or flesh, with products including fresh coconut, coconut oil, coconut cake, copra and desiccated coconut. Other food products include coconut milk, coconut water/juice and coconut sap www.ofimagazine.com

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(fresh sap, vinegar, coconut nectar/honey and natural sap sugar). Non-food applications include the processing of husks into industrial products and the processing of shells into charcoal, which is sold to activated carbon processors.

Processing and marketing

Small-scale processing of coconuts into products such as coconut vinegar, coconut oil, coco coir, and coco-charcoal is done at the village/community/barrio level through small coconut farmers’ organisations or cooperatives, the IJFS article says. Large-scale coconut processing is generally carried out by industries which have plant capacity, such as coconut oil mills, desiccating plants, oleochemical companies, coconut vinegar processing companies, coco juice processing companies, coconut milk processing companies and coir processing plants. Coconuts produced by farmers can be processed into copra and are mostly sold to barrio/community traders, due to the logistical costs of bringing the product to the market area. The trader may process the nuts into copra to sell to oil millers, or deliver the copra to the miller, who processes and produces crude coconut oil, which is delivered to the oil refiner. The final product (cooking oil) is then sold to the consumer as unbranded or branded CNO. Copra buyers are processors such as oil millers, coco-chemical producers and exporters, and copra exporters. Husked coconuts can also be sold as whole fruit which have not undergone primary processing to desiccators, charcoal and activated carbon producers and exporters, and coir manufacturer and exporters. As a tropical crop, coconut thrives in the hot climate of the Philippines. However, the country is also one of the world’s most storm-exposed countries and experiences around eight typhoons a year. Super-Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most

powerful tropical storms ever recorded – struck the Philippines in 2013 and caused a huge loss of life and considerable damage. The typhoon damaged 33M coconut trees across the region of Eastern Visayas alone, with an estimated damage cost of US$396M, and impacted more than one million farmers. Since then, coconut production in copra terms has fallen from a high of 3.03M tonnes in 2010, to 2.76M tonnes in 2013, to 2.258M tonnes in 2015, according to United Coconut Association (UCAP) figures. The quantity of coconut products exports, namely raw coconut, coconut oil, desiccated coconut, and copra cake over the 1961-2017 period has also declined.

Forecast

According to the USDA report, Philippine CNO production in 2021/22 is expected to grow nearly 5% from the previous year, boosted by favourable rains in 2020. Copra production is also set to increase by 2.8% compared to the previous year, based on better rainfall in 2020 in most coconut-growing areas. Copra meal exports are expected to increase 5% in 2021/22 from the previous year due to higher coconut and copra production resulting from favourable rains in 2020. South Korea and Vietnam are likely to remain as the top destinations for Philippine copra meal exports. However, exports of CNO in 2021/22 are likely to decline by over 5% due to logistical challenges from COVID-19, with UCAP estimating that CNO exports in 2021 will reach roughly 875,000 tonnes. The Philippine government’s main response to the pandemic has been restrictions on movement, mass gatherings and business operations. As a result, the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted by 9.5% in 2020, the worst performance since World War II and the first decline since 2008, says the USDA report. CNO food use consumption in 2021/22 is forecast to increase by 100,000 tonnes u

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LAURIC OILS Primary products Value-added products Nuts

Copra, coconut oil

Dessicated coconut Coconut milk and powder Coconut water Virgin coconut oil Food products Cochin oil Biodiesel Oleochemicals Refined, bleached, deodorised (RBD) oil

By-products

Value-added products

Coconut shell

Shell charcoal Activated carbon

Husks

Coco coir Cori dust (mulch) Geotextiles

Copra meal

Animal feed

associations, civil society groups, and government agencies regarding funding decisions. An initial PHP5bn (US$102M) will be made available for various programmes such as planting and replanting of hybrid coconut seedlings and training of coconut farmers. The law is expected to benefit about 3.5M coconut farmers from 68 coconutproducing provinces who own fewer than 5ha of farmland, according to the USDA report. Although some farmer groups have raised concerns over representation, the act is expected to boost coconut productivity and product quality after seven years.

Source: Javier (2015), Nayar (2017) ‘Overview and constraints o the coconut supply chain in the Philippines’ International Journal of Fruit Science, April 2020

2019-2020 USDA official

2020/21 2021/22 USDA official Post, April 2021

2,565 0.6296 88 1,615 0 1,703

2,500 0.63 68 1,575 0 1,643

2,650 0.6226 43 1,650 0 1,693

Exports (‘000 tonnes) Exports to EU (‘000 tonnes)

944 550

925 500

875 475

Industrial domestic consumption Food use domestic consumption Feed waste domestic consumption Total domestic consumption (‘000 tonnes)

466 215 10 691

450 215 10 675

450 315 10 775

1,703

1,643

1,693

Crush (‘000 tonnes) Extraction rate (%) Beginning stocks (‘000 tonnes) Production (‘000 tonnes) Imports (‘000 tonnes) Total supply (‘000 tonnes)

Ending stocks (‘000 tonnes) Total distribution (‘000 tonnes) Marketing year begins in October

Figure 1: Philippines coconut oil production, imports, exports, consumption & stocks u from the previous year’s level, boosted by increased food manufacturing. CNO is the preferred oil among consumers, as long as prices remain stable. It is used as a raw material in making margarine, shortening, and milk fat substitutes and in biscuit and cracker production. Industrial CNO consumption is composed mainly of coconut methyl ester (CME) and other oleochemical production. Oleochemicals are used in the production of laundry detergents and other personal care items such as toothpaste, soap bars, shower cream, and shampoo. Implemented in 2007, the Philippines also has a biofuels law that mandates the blending of biodiesel in all petroleum diesel sold in the country. CME is used as feedstock in Philippine biodiesel production, with the current blend mandate of 2% (B2) requiring roughly 130,000-140,000 tonnes of CNO. In 30 OFI – JANUARY 2022

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February 2021, the PCA recommended increasing the mandate to B3 by 1 August 2021, which was expected to further strengthen increasing copra prices and boost domestic CNO industrial consumption. However, it did not happen.

Support for farmers

A major development set to benefit coconut farmers is the signing into law on 26 February 2021 of the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act. The act establishes a trust fund to rehabilitate and modernise the country’s coconut industry, with coconut smallholders benefiting from taxes collected from them decades ago, now worth about PHP76bn (US$1.55bn). The use of the trust fund will be based on a development plan prepared by the PCA, which must consult coconut farmers and their organisations, industry

Source: Philippines Oilseed & Products USDA GAIN report, April 2021

Table 1: Primary coconut products and by-products in the Philippines

Challenges

The Philippine coconut industry faces a range of issues including the senility of coconut trees; widespread use of poor or low-yielding coconut varieties due to lack of quality coconut seedlings; poor agronomic or farm management practices; unabated cutting of coconut trees in view of the good market for coco lumber; poor soil nutrition; pests and diseases; natural calamities; land conversion of coconut lands; high costs due to poor farm-tomarket roads and an inefficient supply chain, says the IJFS report. Coconut production is not competitive, discouraging farmers, and as a result, coconut production has declined over the past decade. In addition, farmers lack entrepreneurial and technical skills in managing coconut farms. The bulk of copra is sold to community buyers, with copra pricing largely influenced by world prices of coconut oil as well as domestic copra supply conditions. In order to increase coconut production and increase the exports of raw and processed coconut products, coconut production must be modernised by empowering farmers and developing the manufacturing sector to boost activities in the industry. It is also imperative to strengthen the institutional linkages among the government, coconut farmers, and processing sector in the Philippines to facilitate the growth of the industry. ● This article is based on information from the article, ‘Overview and constraints of the coconut supply chain in the Philippines’, published in the International Journal of Fruit Science (IJFS) in April 2020 by authors Marife Moreno, John Kuwornu and Sylvia Szabo; and the Philippines Oilseeds and Products Annual report published by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) in April 2021. www.ofimagazine.com

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SHIPPING RANSPORT The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a supply chain crisis, leading to disruption and surging prices in the container shipping sector, with industry analysts not expecting the situation to improve until the end of the year Gill Langham The world is in the grip of a supply chain crisis caused by a series of connected issues that include the COVID-19 pandemic, a surge in demand for products and a shortage of labour to distribute them. More than 80% of industries have experienced global supply chain disruptions due to the pandemic, according to a report by the consultancy Deloitte, reported by The Guardian on 15 October. The agribusiness supply chain, especially for containerised moves, is “in tatters” according to Ken Eriksen, senior vice president (agribusiness) at IHS Markit. “The full container supply chain is likened to a carpet that is stretched tight and becomes unravelled when one strand is pulled loose,” he says. According to Simon Heaney, senior manager (container research) at maritime research and consulting company Drewry, everything stemmed from the pandemic, which has affected logistics capacity and led to changes in working protocols. “This was fine at the beginning when demand was low, with, for example, Chinese factories closed in the early stages, but there was suddenly an uptick in demand and the whole infrastructure has been caught unaware.”

Container crisis

Against this backdrop, backlogs have built up at the world’s busiest container ports and container prices have surged. The average price for a 40ft container is around US$7,248 according to the Drewry World Container Index, which is a composite of 40ft ocean container freight rates on eight major routes to and from Asia, Europe and the USA. Meanwhile, competition for space on vessels is tight. “Shipping costs have increased ten-fold, that’s if if you can get your container on a vessel due to a shortage of containers, rolled bookings, blank sailings and overbooked vessels,” Damien McClean, CEO of SIA Flexitanks, says. The price of a 40ft container from 32 OFI – JANUARY 2022

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A perfect sto Asia to Northern Europe has risen from US$2,000 to US$20,000, he says. “In early 2020 when COVID-19 lockdowns were implemented, orders were cancelled and shipping lines cancelled sailings. The result is a severe container imbalance as thousands of empty containers are in Europe and the USA while they are badly needed in Asia. “The situation is not helped by congested ports, lack of trucks and overbooked rail roads,” he says.

Deeper problems

Heaney says the logistical problems are industry-wide and not restricted to container transportation. “Everyone’s focusing on what’s happening at the ports but it goes far deeper than that and extends to all the inland logistics as well,” he says. “Every aspect of the chain is under stress so no one particular player can wave a magic wand and get this thing fixed.” “It needs every aspect of the chain to be cleared for it to start circulating properly. Unfortunately, we don’t think that is going to happen until the end of 2022.”

Soy Transportation Coalition executive director Mike Steenhoek agrees saying he sees the overall supply chain issues, including container availability, lasting well into 2022. And IHS Markit’s Eriksen says if countries hold to tight COVID-19 containment protocols, the exacerbated supply chain delivery times will continue.

Global situation

All commodities, including oils and fats, will be affected by the current container situation, according to Suki Basi, managing director of Russell Group. “The large price increases from preCOVID will have the knock-on effect of some items being prioritised more than others, which may not be good news for oils and fats,” Basi says. “Due to the large consumer demand and waiting time at ports, many ships are simply leaving their containers at the port and rushing back to pick up the next sets of items. As a result, many ports are full of empty containers that they are struggling to offload or move to make space for the new containers.”

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SHIPPING Analysts say the current logistical problems in the transportation sector are industry-wide and not only linked to containers

using containers,” he says. “Where we saw impact on bulk was mainly at destination ports in Asia that would shut down for a confirmed case or a few confirmed cases of COVID that led to terminals being shut down for extended periods of time. That in turn backed up vessel arrivals and discharge operations.” Soy Transportation Coalition’s Steenhoek says the major problem – along with rising costs – affecting the market is a lack of availability of containers, which impacts the company’s cash flow.

storm Another complicating factor is that major ports, from Los Angeles to Rotterdam to Shanghai, have a large backlog of ships waiting to enter the port. “Analysts say that there are 600 container ships waiting to be processed around the world. Factor in COVID restrictions, a shortage of dock workers and HGV drivers to transport items to and from port. “So, it’s not unreasonable to surmise that any commodity, including oils and fats, can expect to face delays,” Basi adds.

US situation

In the USA, about 90%-95% of US grain and soyabean exports move on bulk ocean vessels, upwards of 5% in containers and up to 3% by rail in cross border trade with Canada or Mexico, according to IHS Markit’s Eriksen. However, Eriksen says the bulk shipment sector has not been as affected as the container sector by the supply chain crisis. “The economies of scale with bulk make it more efficient and less costly to handle grain exports, while not risking as much delay and poor service being experienced www.ofimagazine.com

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Photo: Adobe Stock

Worldwide problem

The logistical challenges facing the industry were not limited to the USA, according to Steenhoek. “Over the past year and a half, some of the most congested port regions have been overseas – particularly in China,” he says. The stress confronting the global supply chain was also not confined to one mode of transport, according to Steenhoek. “Challenges are manifest in each supply chain link – trucking, rail, barge, distribution centres and container availability.” There has been increasing pressure on bringing in shipping containers full of consumer goods or component parts from China to the USA, unload them, and return them to China for reloading for the repeat journey, Steenhoek says. “There is an increased unwillingness among owners of the shipping containers to allow them to deviate from this route in order to be loaded with agricultural or other products for export from the United States.” The current spot rate to ship a container from China to the West Coast of the USA is US$17,478 compared to US$1,068 to ship a container from the West Coast back to China, he adds, speaking at the end of November. “If an ocean vessel company can be compensated almost 16 times for the front haul journey (China to the West Coast) versus the back haul journey (West Coast to China), there will be a strong economic incentive to limit the amount of time a container is allowed to be transported to a distant location in order to be loaded with agricultural or other products that will pay less for the return journey,” Steenhoek says. “This lack of availability is causing significant stress for those US agricultural exporters who utilise containers.” Against this backdrop of an overly subscribed global supply chain, Steenhoek

says a COVID outbreak at a US or international port has further limited fluidity. “Other weather events like Hurricane Ida have added insult to injury in our ability to move agricultural and other freight.” Drewry’s Heaney says a lot of US exporters have said that they are being priced out of the market. “Historically, they’ve been used to having a pretty low, subsidised freight rate,” he says. “All of a sudden, they were paying relatively a lot more than they were before, that’s if they could even get space in the first place.” In October, US president Joe Biden stepped in to ease port congestion with the announcement that the Port of Los Angeles would join the nearby Port of Long Beach in operating round the clock to help alleviate the backlog of ships from Asia waiting to offload, The New York Times reported. Between them, the two ports handle 40% of the shipping containers imported into the USA, according to the report.

Future outlook

Steenhoek says he expects the supply chain issues to continue in the USA in the foreseeable future, including the squeeze on containers and rail availability, and a nationwide truck driver shortage. “As nimble as the supply chain endeavours to be, it requires considerable time to respond to such a surge in demand,” he says. “Ocean vessels are very expensive and take a long time to construct and ports have a limited number of cranes and storage.” If countries hold to tight COVID-19 containment protocols, Eriksen says lengthy supply chain delivery times – which are at record levels based on IHS Markit’s Purchasing Managers Indices – will continue. Another problem has been forward booking, according to Drewry’s Heaney. Heaney said what is needed is a combination of factors. “You need more investment in the supply chain and you need the demand growth that we’re seeing to slow down,” he says. However, at the moment that hasn’t been happening, with demand – particularly in the USA – still very strong. “What people are now realising is that having to move goods 7,000 miles is a risk. Will that change people’s attitudes and will it change sourcing options? ● Gill Langham is the assistant editor of OFI OFI – JANUARY 2022

15/12/2021 09:41:59

PLANT, EQUIPMENT & TECHNOLOGY

Global round-up of projects Pharma Marine to install new refining line at fish oil facility Photo: Pharma Marine, Kristoffer Antonsen-Kvass

Oils & Fats International reports on some of the latest projects, technology and process news and developments around the world

IN BRIEF GERMANY: Oils and fats technology and equipment supplier HF Press+LipidTech merged with DMA Maschinen-und Anlagenbau GmbH & Co KG (DMA), Schwarte Processing, Hänsel Processing and Hebold Systems to form a new business unit called HF FoodTech Group in January 2021. The new unit is managed under the umbrella of Harburg-Freudenberger Maschinenbau GmbH in a third division called HF FoodTech Group, with annual sales of some €100M. HF Press+LipidTech supplies pressing and refining plants for edible oil processing, as well as screw presses and storage and process tanks for rendering.

Pharma Marine produces a range of omega-3 oils

Norwegian omega-3 producer Pharma Marine has commissioned German food processing technology supplier GEA to engineer and install a new edible oil refining line at its fish oil plant in Søvik, GEA announced on 5 October. The new refining line at the plant on Norway’s west coast was due for completion in mid-2022, the company said. Pharma Marine produces omega-3 products and its fish oils are used in the food, pharma and cosmetics industries, according to the statement. In addition to its traditional bulk business, the company also supplies ready-touse liquid products and the latest addition to their portfolio is a range of vegetable oils. GEA said the commission comprised a customised two-stage neutralisation process line, which was suitable for neutralising either

pre-degummed edible oils or oils with a low phosphatide content, such as fish oil. In the first stage, the fish oil’s free fatty acids (FFA)s were saponified with caustic soda, GEA said, before the sodium soap was separated. The process line included special features to increase flexibility and ease installation and all product-contacting parts were stainless steel. GEA said the plant included an acid treatment as Pharma Marine planned to process different types of fish oil. The whole process line would be installed on skids, GEA said, to reduce on-site commissioning times and increase flexibility in terms of location. The skids would contain two refining separators as well as mixers, pumps, small tanks for solids and heavy phase, along with heat exchangers.

JGC teams up with Cosmo Oil on SAF project in Japan Global engineering company JGC Holdings has teamed up with petrochemical firm Cosmo Oil on a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project in Japan. In the project, locally-sourced used cooking oil (UCO) would be converted into SAF using Honeywell UOP Ecofining technology, with production due to begin in 2025, Honeywell said on 28 October. “This project is a new challenge for Cosmo Oil, which produces petroleum products derived from crude oil,” Cosmo 2 OFI – MONTH 2018 34 JANUARY 2022

P&E Jan 2022.indd 2

Oil director and executive officer Taisuke Matsuoka said. “We need to work on the decarbonisation of fuels through a multiple approach to contribute to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 set by the Japanese government. Introducing SAF production on a commercial scale is the first step.” Developed jointly with Italy’s Eni SpA, the UOP Ecofining process converts nonedible natural oils, animal fats and other waste feedstocks to Honeywell Green Diesel and Honeywell Green Jet Fuel.

To date, Honeywell has 24 Ecofining units licensed in 11 countries around the world, processing 12 different types of renewable feedstocks. Honeywell also announced on 23 September that it was partnering with engineering firm Wood to use Ecofining by-products to create renewable hydrogen, using Wood’s hydrogen plant technology. The renewable hydrogen could then be reintroduced into a company’s SAF production process. www.ofimagazine.com www.ofimagazine.com

15/12/2021 10:00:34

PLANT, EQUIPMENT & TECHNOLOGY

Photo: Adobe Stock

Swiss partnership to develop cultured meat Swiss multinational flavour, fragrance and cosmetic ingredients manufacturer Givaudan has teamed up with plant equipment firm Bühler and retail company Migros to set up a cultured meat pilot plant, due to become operational this year, the companies announced on 15 September. The three Switzerland-based companies said they had formed a new entity, the Cultured Food Innovation Hub, in Kemptthal near Zurich. A stand-alone firm wholly owned by the

three companies, the new venture would also help other firms develop their own products and fermentation techniques, the companies said. The plant would be equipped with a product development lab as well as cell culture and bio fermentation equipment to help start-ups develop new products. “Cellular agriculture offers a solution in several areas from reducing land use and water, to animal welfare, to the safety and quality of the food chain,” Bühler’s chief technology officer Ian Roberts said.

Life sciences company JJ-Lurgi, a joint venture between Jebsen & Jessen Group and Air Liquide, has introduced an augmented reality (AR) headset to assist oils and fats clients, Jebsen & Jessen Group announced on 27 September. The ThinkReality A6 AR headset would be particularly helpful to clients operating through the challenges created by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the company said. It would help Malaysia-headquartered JJ-Lurgi to remotely address the needs of clients in the oils and fats, oleochemicals and biofuels industries. On site operators facing issues would be able to receive immediate assistance from the JJ-Lurgi technical team in Malaysia, who would provide specific instructions using voice commands, pictures, documents and videos relayed through the headset in real time, the company said. For example, when deployed at an oleochemical plant in

Photo: JJ-Lurgi

JJ-Lurgi uses AR headset to aid clients

Toyo Engineering and Velocys have agreed to develop sustainable aviation and other renewable fuels in Japan

Sumatra, Indonesia, the AR headset and software enabled engineering personnel to investigate, troubleshoot and resolve a client’s query in 45 minutes, according to the statement. This compared to a traditional approach of sending an engineer to the site which would typically take five to seven working days. The equipment also enabled

JJ-Lurgi’s team to perform a viability assessment for the start-up of a partially completed oleochemicals production complex and the pre-commissioning of a glycerine distillation plant, the company said. Currently deployed in southeast Asia, JJ-Lurgi said it expected the AR technology to be subsequently available globally.

Colombia and Alder Fuels to produce SAF US process technology and project development company Alder Fuels announced on 9 November that it had formed a strategic alliance with the government of Colombia to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The partnership would involve Colombia incentivising local farmers to supply biomass feedstock – such as forestry and crop residue, as well as regenerative agricultural crops that rejuvenate soil – for conversion into sustainable low-carbon www.ofimagazine.com

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aviation fuel, Alder Fuels said. “Aviation poses one of the greatest technology challenges for addressing climate change and SAF has demonstrated the greatest potential. However, there is insufficient raw material to meet demand,” Alder Fuels president and CEO Bryan Sherbacow said. “The Alder-Colombia partnership is a model for advancing agricultural practices and scaling technology that will one day decarbonise aviation.”

IN BRIEF USA: Soya processing cooperative AGP announced on 19 November that it is expanding crushing capacity at its Sergeant Bluff facility in Iowa. AGP said final details of the expansion were subject to regulatory approval and dependent on negotiations with state and local officials. “Domestic and global demand for soyabean meal and oil continues to grow,” AGP CEO Chris Schaffer said. AGP is owned by more than 150 local and regional cooperatives throughout the Midwest, representing over 200,000 farmers. Its primary activities include soyabean processing/refining and the production and marketing of soyabean meal, oil and biodiesel. The cooperative operates 10 soya processing plants in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota; four soyabean oil refineries; and three biodiesel production facilities. USA: Agribusiness firm Barlett, a Savage Co, plans to build a 38.5M bushels/ year soyabean crush plant in Montgomery county, Kansas, World Grain reported on 31 October. Construction is due to begin early this year, with operations starting in 2024. The plant would produce soyabean meal and oil for use in renewable fuels, food products and animal feed. OFI – JANUARY 2022

15/12/2021 10:00:54

STATISTICS STATISTICAL NEWS Palm oil The Mintec Benchmark Prices for EU palm oil increased by 5.1% month-on-month to €1,179/tonne on 7 December. The price increased due to continued firm global demand. Additionally, a Reuters survey of market participants indicated tightening inventories and production in November, likely to be exacerbated by the firm global demand, particularly from China and India. Estimates say November-end inventories fell by 3.5% month-on-month to 1.77M tonnes in Malaysia, while production was around 1.65M tonnes, lower than trade estimates of around 1.71-1.72M tonnes. India is still in wedding season and with Chinese New Year in February, demand will likely remain firm. Furthermore, the upward trend in prices is likely to continue going forward due to a bullish wider global vegetable oil complex, as well as delays in soyabean harvesting in India, which has increased the country’s reliance on imported palm oil. Palm oil remains the cheapest vegetable oil in the complex, thus maintaining its competitiveness globally.

Palm oil production, consumption, ending stocks (million tonnes)

Palm kernel oil (PKO)

The Mintec Benchmark Prices for EU PKO fell by 14% week-on-week and 4% month-on-month to €1,551/ tonne on 7 December. The price was driven lower by the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant, which weighed on crude vegetable oil demand and lauric oils at the start of December. The market did recover by 10% between 2-6 December, as market participants felt the concerns surrounding Omicron were overdone. The price remains up by 56% year-on-year due to a recovery in demand from key consumers such as India and China, similar to the story in the crude palm oil (CPO) market.

Mintec benchmark palm kernel oil prices, cif Rotterdam (€/tonne)

Coconut oil

Mintec benchmark coconut oil prices, cif Rotterdam (€/tonne)

Prices of selected oils (US$/tonne) Jun 21

Jul 21

Aug 21

Sept 21

Soyabean

1,352.6

1,414.4

1,389.9

Crude palm

1,021.8

1,053.0

1,118.4

Palm olein

Oct 21

Nov 21

1,364.6

1,485.9

1,387.7

1,173.1

1,303.5

1,327.1

943.8

990.1

1,069.2

1,144.9

1,224.8

1,234.7

Coconut

1,580.5

1,522.5

1,456.6

1,485.2

1,857.9

1,898.6

Rapeseed

1,302.0

1,367.3

1,425.2

1,505.1

1,745.5

1,696.8

Sunflower

1,314.5

1,213.0

1,297.7

1,313.6

1,412.5

1,421.4

Palm kernel

1,355.0

1,236.1

1,299.0

1,370.5

1,797.1

1,941.0

Average

1,267.0

1,257.0

1,294.0

1,337.0

1,543.0

1,558.0

300.0

298.0

307.0

317.0

366.0

369.0

Index

36 OFI – JANUARY 2022

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The Mintec Benchmark Prices (MBP) for EU coconut oil fell by 3.3% month-on-month to €1,551/tonne on 7 December. The market is still up by 26% year-on-year. The price fell in November in line with an improving global supply situation. The Philippines, which produces close to 50% of global coconut oil, saw a sharp decline in COVID cases since mid-September which has meant refineries have been able to reopen with a sufficient labour force. Suppliers have also released quantities they were holding previously in the hopes of further price increases, meaning buyers have been able to negotiate lower prices. In December, there was less panic buying and outbidding within the coconut oil market compared to just a month ago. Additionally, the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant has weighed on prices for all oils, in line with fears of falling demand for biofuels and for edible uses in the hospitality industry. Mintec provides independent insight and data to help companies make informed commercial decisions. Tel: +44 (0)1628 851313 E-mail: sales@mintecglobal.com Website: www.mintecglobal.com

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