MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Malaysian Biodiesel Association urged industry officials to come to terms with a steady decline of imports of palm-based biofuels in the European Union, with the country's exports this year seen at their lowest level in five years, reported Reuters.
The decline in Malaysia's biofuels shipments are a result of the EU's decarbonization agenda, MBA president U.R. Unnithan told an industry conference hosted by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board.
The European Commission in Dec said biofuel consumption in the EU is set to fall by 2031 as road transport moves away from fossil fuel, and palm oil imports will plummet due to stricter sustainability criteria.
Under the EU's renewable energy directive, palm oil-based fuels are to be phased out by 2030, since the vegetable oil has been classified by the bloc as resulting in excessive deforestation and can no longer be considered a renewable transport fuel.
The world's largest palm oil producers Indonesia and Malaysia decried the rule and have both launched separate cases with the World Trade Organization, saying the EU law is discriminatory.
Biodiesel exports from Malaysia are pegged to decline to 250,000 tons from 300,000 tons a year ago, while production is pegged to rise to 1.2 MM tons from 1 MM tons in 2021, he said, quoting data from Palm Oil Analytics.
As MRC wrote previously, in December 2021, Malaysia and China's state-owned Shanxi Construction Investment Group on Monday signed a MOU to collaborate on the production of second-generation biodiesel and biojet fuel. Shanxi Construction plans to invest in a hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) plant, also known as second-generation biofuel, in Malaysia's southern state of Johor, Malaysia's commodities ministry said then.
We remind that a new biojet fuel developed by energy group Eni was used for the first time in mid-October, 2021, to power Alitalia successor ITA as part of plans to cut carbon footprints. The sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), made from waste products and residues, will be produced at Eni refineries in Taranto and, early next year, in Livorno, Eni said in a statement.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC