The Philippines' bioethanol reference price edged down to Peso 59.14/liter ($1.27/liter) in July, marking a drop of Peso 0.48/liter from June's Peso 59.62/liter, according to data released by Philippines' Sugar Regulatory Administration this week.
The reference price is calculated from the average costs of the two major feedstocks for ethanol, namely molasses and sugar cane.
According to the data report, the Negros molasses price continued to reach a year high in July at Peso 10,150.00/mt, up Peso 96/mt from June, resulting in a higher equivalent molasses feedstock cost of Peso 43.27/liter.
However, the lower reference price was mainly due to the fall in sugar cane cost. The equivalent sugar cane price was Peso 2,130.28/mt, equating to a sugar cane feedstock cost of Peso 30.43/liter, down Peso 1.34/liter from month on month.
Prices for imported ethanol dropped sharply over the same period. The S&P Global Platts CIF Philippines fuel-grade ethanol marker went down $41.67/cu m month on month to $483.33/cu m on July 29, the last trading day in July, mainly because of the oversupply and bearish sentiment in US market.
By comparison, Philippines' domestic ethanol price are more than two and a half times higher than the cost of imported fuel-grade ethanol. The wilder spread resulted from the significant fall on importing ethanol price.
One point worth mentioning in the report is that there was a general agreement on no bidding at the millsites in second half of July, which has never happened so far this year.
