POMEME price sharply down in Rotterdam

Bio-bunker premiums over VLSFO narrow further

Singapore’s bio-bunker sales dropped 24% in April

Rotterdam

B30-VLSFO HBE in Rotterdam has remained almost steady with just a $1/mt gain over the past week, helped by a $9/mt increase in ENGINE’s conventional VLSFO benchmark.

A $3/mt drop in estimated HBE rebates should have also supported prices. But a sharp $28/mt fall in the POMEME CIF ARA barge price assessed by Prima Markets has offset any further upside.

Rotterdam's B30-VLSFO HBE now stands at a $192/mt outright premium over pure VLSFO, a $5/mt drop from a week ago.

The ARA's B30-VLSFO UCOME price has edged lower by $3/mt. Prima's UCOME barge price has slumped $28/mt lower over the past week, to $1,377/mt.

Singapore

B24-VLSFO UCOME in Singapore has also remained relatively stable, slipping by $5/mt over the past week. A $25/mt drop in the Prima-assessed UCOME FOB China cargo price has weighed some on the benchmark.

“The Chinese waste-based biodiesel market dropped further on Thursday, as sources were reporting offers for Chinese UCOME at cheaper price tags than seen in the last week,” Prima said.

“One trader in Southeast Asia also said that the Asian bio-bunkering market had been ‘quite weak’ lately, with the trader now exploring interest in the Chinese wastes market given the lack of activity in the bunkering sector,” it added.

Singapore’s VLSFO price has been steady with only a $1/mt rise. Our freight estimate for UCOME from China to Singapore was unchanged from the previous week, at $13.50/mt.

Singapore’s bio-blended bunker sales dropped by 24% in April, following a record high in March. Total sales stood at 111,000 mt in April, down from 146,000 mt.

The bulk of these sales were bio-VLSFO, which declined from 94,000 mt to 76,000 mt. Bio-HSFO sales also fell, down to 33,000 mt. The port also recorded 1,200 mt of bio-LSMGO sales, up from zero in March.

B24-VLSFO’s premium over VLSFO has narrowed by $6/mt over the past week, to $170/mt now.

Other bio-bunker news

Brazilian bunker supplier Petrobras now offers prompt deliveries of B24-VLSFO in Rio Grande. Fuel deliveries will be made via barges, with lead times recommended at around five days, the company said. This follows a Petrobras announcement in January, when it launched biofuel supply. What’s new is that deliveries can be made prompt.

Chimbusco Pan Nation (CPN) delivered 6,300 mt of B24-VLSFO in Hong Kong to a container ship owned by China Shipping Container Lines (COSCO). CPN described the delivery as the “largest B24 marine biofuel bunkering operation to date” in the Greater Chinese region. The operation demonstrates its “operational strength” to carry out large-scale biofuel bunkering, it added.  

By Konica Bhatt

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