U.S. biofuel policies had a strong impact on vegetable oil trade and demand during 2023. According to USDA data, U.S. biofuel policy “has created a wedge between U.S. prices and world prices, which has impacted global vegetable oil and processed oil trade volumes. U.S. vegetable oil exports in marketing year (MY) 2022/23 declined significantly while vegetable oil imports increased to a record high.”

Evolving state and federal biofuel policies, particularly regarding renewable diesel, have encouraged changes in feedstock consumption to produce larger volumes of renewable fuel and to produce more renewable fuel with lower greenhouse gas emissions. During the 2022/23 MY vegetable oil use for biofuel production is expected to be finalized in the 19 to 19.1 billion pounds range, up approximately 4.5 billion pounds for the 2021/22 MY.

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