Neste released fourth quarter financial results on Feb. 10, reporting that the company’s renewable products business segment achieved improve sales volumes and sales margins despite several scheduled shutdowns, a weaker U.S. dollar and higher fixed costs.

Peter Vanacker, president and CEO of Neste, confirmed renewable diesel demand remained robust during the fourth quarter, but noted that feedstock markets continued to tighten in 2021. Despite higher feedstock costs, Vanacker said the company was able to increase its comparable sales margin, which averaged $715 per ton. “This was an excellent achievement driven by the optimization of price premiums, market allocation, feedstock mix, and successful margin hedging,” he said. “The increase in sales was enabled by a new annual production record of 3.01 million tons. Our continued focus on the Neste Excellence program has enabled us to increase our nameplate capacity from 3.2 million to 3.3 million tons while keeping the nameplate capacity target of 4.5 million tons unchanged once the EUR 1.5 billion expansion investment in Singapore has been started up.”

Regarding feedstock, Vanacker said waste and residues accounted for 92 percent of total renewable material inputs last year.

Moving into the first quarter of 2022, Neste expects sales volumes for renewable products to be similar to those achieved in the first quarter of 2021. Waste and residue markets are expected to remain tight, with first quarter sales margin expected to be in the range of $675 to $725 per ton.

Utilization rates for Neste’s renewable production facilities are also expected to remain high into 2022. A six-week turnover at the Singapore refinery is currently scheduled for the third quarter with a seven-week turnover at the Rotterdam refinery scheduled to take place during the fourth quarter.

Neste reported EUR 357 million in comparable operating profit for the renewable products segment during the fourth quarter, up from EUR 338 million during the same period of 2020. For the full year 2021, the segment reported comparable operating profit of EUR 1.238 billion in 2021, down from EUR 1.334 billion in 2020. The decrease is primarily attributed to the weaker U.S. dollar and higher fixed costs.

Overall, Neste reported EUR 4.968 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter, up form EUR 3.028 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020. Revenue for the full year reached EUR 15.148 billion, up from EUR 11.751 billion.