A new report by the Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Plants (UFOP) shows that around only 7% of the 1.4M ha of crops such as grain, oilseeds and other plants grown worldwide in 2020 were used in biofuels production.
Biofuel production is mostly located in countries where there is already a surplus of feedstock (particularly maize, soya and palm oil) and legally prescribed blending obligations, according to the report, and if the surplus was not used to produce biofuels, it would have to be placed on the global market, affecting feedstock prices.
The use of crops in biofuel production also generated extra value and reduced the need for foreign currency for imports of crude or fossil fuels, which could be a problem in poorer countries, the report said.
A further advantage was the amount of high-quality protein feeds generated from biofuel production, which also had a strong influence on feedstock prices.
