US renewable diesel imports from Singapore up 60% over last year

Nearly 144 million gallons of renewable diesel from Neste Corp.’s Singapore plant entered the U.S. in the first four months of this year, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. This is up 60 percent from the same period last year, which totaled 89.5 million gallons. In the first four months of 2021, the United States imported 10 million more gallons of methyl ester biodiesel and in excess of four times more biobased diesel—mostly renewable diesel—than it exported.

From January through April, the U.S. imported nearly 57 million gallons of biodiesel, with roughly 67 percent of this volume coming from Canada, 21 percent from Germany, 9 percent from South Korea, and 4 percent from Spain. This is down from 66.4 million gallons for the same period last year, representing a 14.5 percent drop in biodiesel imports January through April 2021 from the first four months of 2020.

Through April, the U.S. exported roughly 46.4 million gallons of biodiesel so far this year, up 30 percent, or nearly 11 million gallons, from the same period last year. Exports to Canada made up nearly three-quarters of the U.S. volume shipped out of the country from January through April 2021 at 72 percent, or 33.6 million gallons. March volumes sent to Canada more than doubled January’s and more than tripled February’s. At roughly 18 million gallons, April shipments of U.S. biodiesel to Canada, in turn, doubled March volumes. The remaining volumes of U.S. biodiesel exported in the first four months of this year went to the Netherlands (11 percent), Peru (8 percent) and Uruguay (8 percent), with small volumes sent to Germany, South Korea and Mexico.