Growing Biofuel Business in Europe

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Europe

 

In Europe, Biofuel has been produced on an industry scale since 1990 but production significantly gained momentum in the early 2000s due to the rising petroleum prices and favorable legislation passed by European Union institutions and member state. In 2011, the region has witnessed a decline of 5.3% to USD ~ million in 2011 as compared to USD ~ million in 2010. This decrease in revenue is influenced by the decline in the consumption of biofuel in Central Europe along with no increase in the utilization of biofuel in the Western Europe in 2011. Italy has experienced a downfall in biofuel consumption from ~ thousand barrels per day of biofuel in 2011 in comparison to ~ thousand barrels per day in 2010. Other parts of Europe have also observed a decline of 15.2% to ~ thousand barrels per day in 2011. 

 

The biofuel consumption in transportation sector has continued to increase in the European countries. In 2011, ~ million tonnes of oil equivalent is consumed in transportation sector as compared to ~ million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2010. Some European countries has surged their blending rate in the fuel in 2011 which includes Finland from 4% to 6%, Poland from 5.7% to 6.2%, Italy from 3.5% to 4.0%, Spain from 5.8% to 6.2%, Bulgaria from 3.5% to 5.0% and the Netherlands from 4.0% to 4.3%. 

 

Germany

 

The biofuel production in Germany has declined by 1.7% from ~ thousand barrels per day in 2010 to ~ thousand barrels per day in 2011. This was due to the rising scarcity of biofuel feedstocks in the country which has increased the prices of rapeseed, oil made from the seeds and Hamburg based oilseeds. The petroleum fuel which is blended with bio diesel in small proportion has also witnessed an incline of 33% in the price of fuel. The contribution of ethanol in fossil fuel has also fallen by 11% in the first half of 2011 due to the rising feedstock prices which has reduced the domestic industry production in the country. 

 

France

 

The biofuel market in France is the second predominant market in Europe with the market share of approximately ~% in total revenue generated by the industry in Europe in 2011. In 2011, France biofuel market grew by 9.8% to USD ~ million as compared to USD ~ million in 2010. The biofuel feedstock demand is continuously increasing in the country on account of reduced supply and high demand from the competition market. The rising concern over the food based feedstock has led the government to change its 10% blending target to 7% by 2020. 

 

Spain

 

Spain biofuel industry is one of the leading markets in the region with the revenue of USD ~ million in 2011. The biofuel market in Spain has grown at a CAGR of 42.8% from 2005-2011. This was as a result of an increase in the overall mandatory blending rate targets in the petroleum oil from 1.9% in 2008 to 6.2% in 2011. 

 

Italy

 

Italy’s biofuel industry is slowly developing to meet the European Union’s 2020 mandate target of 10% biofuel use in transportation fuels. On 17th September 2012, the European Union has reduced the food based biofuel mandate target from 10% to 5% in order to reduce the food inflation in the region. The biofuel production in the country has witnessed a decline of 15.8% from ~ thousand barrels per day in 2010 to ~ thousand barrels per day in 2011. This is due to the lack of support from the government, stiff competition from South American countries and complicated and uncertain European and Italian legislative framework which are hampering the biofuel industry growth. 

 

Belgium

 

In Belgium, 77% of the consumed primary energy comes from the petroleum, natural gas and coal and 21% comes from nuclear energy. In 2006, approximately 0.5 thousand barrels per day of bio diesel was produced while no ethanol was manufactured for the fuel consumption. The country follows the rules and standards set for members by the European Commission and have also set 8.5% mandate blending rate target of biofuel as a country ambitious goal. The Belgium Renewable Action Plan fixed yearly indicative targets for renewable energy consumption in transportation sector. According to the plan, the country will try to achieve 8.5% share of biofuels in the transportation sector by 2020. 

 

Visit: Biofuel Business in Europe