Spain's January biodiesel demand rises 18.1% year-on-year

Spain's consumption of biodiesel increased 18.1% year-on-year as a higher blending mandate and an improving economy provided benign conditions for demand.  

Demand for biodiesel in Spain was 93,328 mt in January, said data released this week by CORES, which manages Spain's strategic oil reserves. 

Demand for biodiesel from month to month can vary wildly, and in some months, year-on-year increases can be much lower, or even negative, even if the 12-month trends shows clear gains.

Diesel accounts for around 75% of Spain's transport fuels use and because the country's biofuels blending mandate doesn't differentiate between fuels, higher mandates tend to boost diesel demand by a higher rate than for bioethanol for example.    

Consumption of diesel rose around 6% in January compared with the equivalent month in 2017, the CORES data showed.

The amount of biodiesel used in diesel as a percentage was 5.08% in January, up from 4.56% a year before.