News

Many biodiesel plants have paused production

Uncertainty in the industry has many biofuels plants on hold.

Nathan Burk, senior vice president of fats, oils, and greases with StoneX, tells Brownfield, “The majority of our clients that we work with specifically in biodiesel, we’ve seen completely shutter after December 31st with the lapse of the dollar just because the margins went into the red.”  He says, “Renewable diesel producers seem to have pulled back to more minimum run rates like 60%.”

He says current biodiesel margins are running up to 70 cents per gallon in the red, and the slowdown is starting to impact soybean crush.

“We’ve already heard a handful of soybean crushers talking about scaling back.”  He says, “It still seems like we have an over abundant supply of soybean oil.  I think you’re going to see soybean oil stocks really grow.”

Burk says further guidance on available tax credits is needed.

“Hopefully we get a little bit further guidance from the Trump administration on 45Z, or if there’s a chance for a blenders tax credit to come back.”

Brownfield spoke with Burk at the 2025 Clean Fuels Conference in San Diego.

AUDIO: Nathan Burk – StoneX