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The United States Energy Information Administration (“EIA”) issued a May 7th report titled:

Soybean Oil Comprises a Larger Share of Domestic Biodiesel Production (“Report”)

As the Report notes, biodiesel is a mixture of chemical compounds denominated alkyl esters which are produced from a variety of vegetable oils, fats, and greases.

Soybean oil is stated to be the most commonly used vegetable oil for biodiesel production. The role of soybean oil in biodiesel production is addressed. It notes:

• Biodiesel production accounts for an increasing share of soybean oil used in the United States, currently representing about 30% of domestic soybean oil disposition.

The growth in biodiesel production is stated to have coincided with federal biofuel mandates and other conditions that “encouraged the larger share of the domestic soybean oil supply to be consumed as biofuel feedstock.”

The Report notes the growth in United States soybean oil supply between 2010 and 2017-2018. Further, the share of total soybean oil consumed as a biodiesel feedstock doubled from 15 to 30%. Domestic biodiesel production is stated to have grown from 0.7 billion gallons to 1.8 billion gallons between 2011 and 2017.

A copy of the Report can be found here.