Ten HOT Nuggets
1 | One quarter down, three to go!
U.S. soybean oil biofuel demand in Q1 2025 fell to just over 2 billion pounds - the lowest since early 2021 and down 41% from Q4 2024.
The drop followed a rush to use virgin oil feedstocks before 40A’s $1 blending tax credit expired and 45Z took effect.
The worst of the 45Z fallout may be over, with March demand rebounding to 830 million pounds - up 44% from February.
Notably, soybean oil’s share of total feedstock use climbed to 30.8% - a recovery from January and February’s all-time lows near 27%.
2 | Get ‘er while she’s hot!
Speaking of quarters, the latest edition of the Quarterly North America Biomass Based Diesel Report is out!
I have again partnered with Will of Carbon Acumen to write the industry’s GO-TO report on Biomass-Based Diesels in North America.
Click HERE to access the Q2 2025 North America BBD Report.
3 | Three big imports
Biomass-based feedstock imports have faced a rocky start to 2025, as the move to 45Z and tariff woes disrupted what had been skyrocketing import volumes through late 2024.
April canola oil imports dropped to 370 million pounds, down over 40% from the 2024 monthly average.
Used cooking oil fared worse, plunging 50% to a 20-month low of 215 million pounds amid its exclusion from 45Z tax credits.
In contrast, tallow continues to buck the trend with stronger demand - April imports surpassed 250 million pounds, for only the second month in history as it picks up additional demand by default in the wake of 45Z.
4 | Oil sales, strong like bull
Bean oil exports continue to chart their own course in 2024/25 with April shipments bringing cumulative marketing year exports to a decade’s high 1.9 billion lbs - ten times shipments at this point one year ago!
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