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Fastmarkets’ data shows the price for used cooking oil, ISCC, ddp Northwest Europe reached its highest assessment level on February 21, when most of the feedstock prices jumped amid increased demand, reaching a two-year high of €1,207.50 ($1,420) per tonne at the midpoint.
With EU members missing the implementation deadline of the third alteration of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) in May, weak trading activity pushed feedstock prices down, with the lowest dip of the European-origin UCO price assessment recorded on March 28 at €1,070 per tonne.
The price showed a €190.50 per tonne (18.7%) fluctuation throughout the year.
The price assessment for optional-origin imported UCO fluctuated by $170 per tonne (16.5%) during the year, with Fastmarkets’ assessing the price for used cooking oil, cif Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp (ARA) at its highest level of $1,200 per tonne on September 26, when Asian UCO prices reached their highest at origin.
The price marked a nearly three-year high after reaching $1,245 per tonne on October 6, 2022.
At the other end of the spectrum, Fastmarkets recorded a 2025 low for the UCO CIF ARA price at $1,030 per tonne on May 30.
Moving to animal fats, after being launched on January 9, Fastmarkets’ weekly category 1 and 2 mixed animal fat, max 30% ffa, ddp Northwest Europe assessment followed a general uptrend in the first quarter of 2025, climbing to €845 per tonne on February 27 and dipping to €770 per tonne on June 12.
The price fluctuated by €122 per tonne (15.8%) during the year and reached its highest level of €892 per tonne on December 11, pushed up by increased demand and limited cargo availability.
“Despite summer seasonality, we saw an increase in category 1 and 2 animal fat prices due to low raw material availability in slaughterhouses,” a Europe-based renderer told Fastmarkets.
“It is good for statistics that we don’t have animals dying of diseases, but it is bad news for some biodiesel producers that heavily rely on this Annex IX B list feedstock,” the renderer added.
The category 3 animal fat market remained dominated by the biofuels industry, with one-third of the production volume used to produce renewable fuels.
Nevertheless, the prices of some quality grades of category 3 fats were influenced by demand from the animal feed, pet food and oleochemical industries.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for category 3 bone fat, low grade, 5% ffa, 98%, ddp Northwest Europe reached its highest level this year of €1,100 per tonne on March 13 and then followed a general downtrend in the second quarter, dropping to €980 per tonne in May.
Stronger demand pushed the price to €1,065 per tonne on September 25, the peak of the third quarter, while policy uncertainty and slower than usual trading in the fourth quarter pressured the price to €970 per tonne on December 4, the lowest level of 2025 assessed by Fastmarkets.
The assessments showed a €130 per tonne (13.4%) fluctuation during the reported period.
Finally, Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for soap stock acid oil, cif Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp, which launched on May 8, fluctuated by $150 per tonne (17.9%) between May and December, amid price volatility at origin in South America and Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
The lowest assessment was recorded at $840 per tonne on May 30, while the price reached its highest level of $990 per tonne on September 18.
Market sources expressed various opinions on feedstock price expectations, with views splitting between bullish and bearish forecasts.
Policy uncertainty was the main bearish factor in the third and fourth quarters of 2025, with a similar trend recorded at the same time last year, which resulted in a sharp uptick of feedstock prices in the first quarter of 2025 after demand recovered upon sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and other biofuel mandates going into effect.
Some biofuel feedstock prices reached two-year high levels in Europe as a result, with market sources expecting a similar trend in the first quarter of 2026.
“Depending on policy changes and RED III implementation across the EU, we might see prices moving in different ways because of double counting removal and increases in the use of other feedstocks to produce biofuels,” a market source said.
Some other sources expressed more bearish ideas, expecting animal fat prices to drop further in the first quarter of 2026 amid increased import flows from South America and Australia.
“With the US out of the game de jure, animal fat exporters are looking for other destinations, with Singapore and Europe at the top of the list,” a Europe-based trader told Fastmarkets.
Exports to Europe require additional veterinary certification and approvals issued by the European Commission (EC).
According to EC, over 40 Brazilian processing plants have been approved ever since import tariffs were announced by the US in August, with a total of 104 plants now certified for category 3 fat exports.
In Australia, 120 rendering plants are certified to export to Europe.
“Some US-based biofuel producers told us they were seriously considering shutting down their plants for longer than just a scheduled maintenance, so it could potentially mean even more foreign feedstock flow into Europe,” the trader added.
With the biodiesel-feedstock price spread narrowing further down this year, biodiesel producers faced margin issues, with the spread between Fastmarkets’ daily biodiesel, used cooking oil methyl ester (UCOME) outright, fob Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp and the US dollar value of the daily used cooking oil, ISCC, ddp Northwest Europe price reaching $134.70 per tonne on April 9, the lowest recorded this year, Fastmarkets’ data shows.
“The spread must be at least $300-400 per tonne for healthy production margins,” another source told Fastmarkets.
“It looks like only hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) producers can afford expensive feedstocks, but it is also subject to HVO prices, which might drop in 2026 after producers return from holidays and maintenance closures,” the source added.
HVO demand has been high in 2025, keeping prices expensive and allowing high production margins, but sources fear that such bearish factors as import flows from the US might pressure European HVO down.
“If prices decline to $1,800 per tonne levels it is still okay but if they drop to $1,600 per tonne it is a disaster for the market. Producers will have to lobby an anti-dumping investigation on imported material in order to keep local prices at healthy levels,” a third source said.
The future of advanced feedstocks is even more uncertain than UCO and animal fats, with sources expressing concerns about sourcing the volumes required by RED III.
“It is hard to be sure that we will have enough advanced feedstock to meet the mandates, given that it is still a niche market, with unstable supply flows and inconsistent qualities of the products,” a second Europe-based trader said.
With food waste oil (FWO) flows increasing from China, market participants have raised concerns about feedstock eligibility despite the cargoes having all required certification.
“Origination of advanced feedstocks will remain the main trend in the upcoming year, but we will need to compete with other industries using the products in the countries of origin, so European producers will have to be ready to pay quite high prices,” another trader told Fastmarkets.
Fastmarkets Agriculture‘s comprehensive feedstock prices include UCO (US Gulf), Bleachable Fancy Tallow (Chicago), RBD Soybean Oil and many others currently used by the industry as benchmarks for contract negotiations.