Biodiesel Margins Remain Steady Entering March

Soaring biodiesel prices were offset by the continued runup in soybean oil values, leaving margins unchanged from last week.  Soybean oil remains the primary feedstock used in the production of biomass-based diesel.

In the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest ‘Monthly Biofuels Capacity and Feedstocks Update’, soybean oil accounted for 46 percent of all domestic biomass-based diesel production, easily outpacing the second largest feedstock, yellow grease, representing 18 percent of the feedstock total.

The bean oil/heating oil spread (BOHO) measures the profitability for producing biodiesel from soybean oil.  The higher the spread the more costly production. When the spread rises, RIN values generally increase to offset rising production costs.

The BOHO spread declined in value over the past couple of weeks, while RIN prices moved higher.  If…