“It’s the most active January in terms of trading and price increase since before Covid-19 times,” a producer told Fastmarkets.

January is typically a quiet period, with renderers aiming to sell leftover volumes produced in November-December, while demand tends to be low.

Nevertheless, demand for animal fats from European animal feed producers has been strong amid high-priced vegetable oils, and biofuel plants continued buying the feedstock despite softening biodiesel prices, sources said.

Category 1 fat cargoes were reported trading in the wide range of €790-830 per tonne on the DDP North-West Europe (NWE) basis, up by €10-30 per tonne from the previous week’s level.

With some cases of bluetongue virus reported in Germany and the UK, sources expected more availability of category 1 fats, pushing prices down as a result, but also raising concerns about potential meat export restrictions.

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