What is the demand for biodiesel in relation to the supply?
In 2008 there were well over 400 million gallons of biodiesel produced the U.S. With increased costs of traditional feedstocks like soy oil and poultry fat, over 100 biodiesel plants have closed their doors, these range from small 3 million gallon per year plants to 100 million gallon plants. 2009 production will be greatly reduced but the demand is still there and growing. As stated in the news release, states are increasing and adding mandates for biodiesel usage to the point if you add up the mandates and incentives like Illinois, the demand will be greater than the supply for the foreseeable future. For additional support, the federal government issues a Renewable Fuels Standard for biodiesel that mandates usage in future years. It is estimated that the mandate for 2010 will be much more than actual production. This means that oil refiners, distributors, and blenders must purchase an allocation of biodiesel or biodiesel credits. This creates even more demand for what will be a limi
