Biodiesel consumption in Germany in March totaled 134,436 mt, a rise of 53.46% compared with February and 6.13% up on March 2016, preliminary data published Friday by German export agency BAFA showed.
Ethanol consumption also rose on the month, growing 14.97%, but fell 1.89% from a year earlier to 79,781 mt.
Biodiesel consumption tracked diesel demand on both a month-on-month basis and a year-on-year basis.
March diesel consumption rose 24.93% from February and 11.26% from March 2016 to 3.572 million mt. As a result, the biodiesel incorporation rate rose to 5.78% on a volumetric basis, from 4.70% in February, although this was down from 6.06% a year earlier.
Ethanol demand rose in line with gasoline demand from the previous month, unlike a year earlier when ethanol demand waned as gasoline consumption increased.
Gasoline consumption rose 21.85% from February and 4.96% from March 2016 to 1.611 million mt. This left the incorporation rate for ethanol at 4.95%, down from 5.25% in February and 5.30% a year earlier.
Consumption of biofuels in Germany is expected to grow over the course of 2017 due to the raising of the biofuels mandate to 4% from 3.5% on a greenhouse gas saving basis on January 1.
Given that the German mandate is based on GHG savings, with no minimums for biodiesel or ethanol, blenders tend to acquire material that produces lower GHG emissions because, when savings are higher, less overall volume is needed to meet the mandate.
