The Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (Abiove) regrets the decision by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) and the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) to reduce the biodiesel mixture from 12% to 10% to September and October deliveries of Auction 75 (L75) during the event.

The entity reinforces that the decision was taken in a hasty manner because its main allegation, of lack of biodiesel, can only be proven after the fulfillment of what is foreseen in the notice. In other words, after the completion of the L75, which remains paralyzed, and the holding of a complementary auction, if it were evidenced, after the closing of the L75, that sales would be insufficient to meet demand.

In addition, there was a commitment by the MME and the ANP that, whatever the decision, it would be officially communicated to the sectors involved to avoid speculation in the market. Unfortunately there was a public communication before informing the sector.

The biodiesel auction system has always been characterized by the stability of rules and gradual improvements. The lack of a Monitoring Committee in this pandemic scenario, a tool that has been defended by Abiove since May, once again harms Brazilian biodiesel. It is also necessary to say that the alterations to the rules in the events that have been taking place since the L72 brought uncertainty to the biodiesel production chain, which is also responsible for the supply of food.

Having announced the reduction of the mixture to B10 before the completion of the L75, the official bodies may be neglecting 1,166,420 m³ already commercialized in the stages already carried out on the L75.

The industry does not accept the cancellation of sales made, since this action would cause a collapse in the soy production chain and in the sale of oil, given that the raw material has already been sold, including with repurchases of soy that would be exported to be processed in the Brazil. There are also commitments signed with the sales of soybean meal. All of this will be put at risk if one more wrong decision is made on the L75. Therefore, ABIOVE considers the completion of L75 to be mandatory and strict compliance with the provisions of this auction notice.