Brazil’s Lula da Silva Eyes To Raise Mandatory Biodiesel Blend

Brazil’s newly elected president is planning to revoke a decision to keep the mandatory blend of biodiesel in diesel at 10%, a member of the transition team of President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said.

• The Lula administration is planning to "reaffirm" its commitment with the biodiesel industry by keeping the blending mandate at a higher level than the current one, known as B10, Senator Carlos Favaro said.
• On Monday, President Bolsonaro's government decided to keep the biodiesel mandate at 10% until Marc 2023, before increasing it to 15% from 1 April.
• The Bolsonaro administration changed that plan last year when the failure of the soybean crop sent prices soaring, fuelling local inflation.
• The industry has been calling for reinstatement of a previous plan under which the mandatory biodiesel blend would stand at 14% in Jan and Feb 2023 before reaching 15% in March.