Biodiesel production in Argentina is expected to reach 1.54 billion liters (406.82 million gallons) this year, the second lowest figure in 11 years, according to a report filed with the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service’s Global Agricultural Information Network.

According to the report, Argentina’s biodiesel exports have mostly recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Production to meet the domestic blend mandate, however, is expected to reach only 500 million liters, less than half of pre-pandemic use. The domestic blend rate for 2021 is expected to fall to 4 percent due to a lack of enforcement of the existing mandates, changing policies that reduced blend rates for the first three months of 2021, delays in updating official prices to match increased production costs, low diesel consumption due to an economic recession, and the implementation of a new biofuel law in late 2021 that is expected to reduce the official blend rate from 10 percent to as low as 3 percent.

Of the 1.54 billion liters of biodiesel expected to be produced in Argentina this year, an estimated 1.1 billion liters will be exported. Production was at 1.315 billion liters last year, with 675 million liters of that volume exported.

There are currently 33 biodiesel plants in Argentina with a combined nameplate capacity of 4.43 billion gallons, flat with 2020. Capacity utilization is expected to be at 34.8 percent this year, up from 29.7 percent in 2020.

Soybean oil is the primary biodiesel feedstock with 1.36 million metric tons expected to be consumed to produce the fuel this year, up from 1.16 million metric tons last year.

A full copy of the report can be downloaded on the USDA FAS GAIN website.