Argentine ethanol and biodiesel industries going in opposite directions
In Argentina, Clarin newspaper reports the Argentine biofuels industry shows two speeds. While bioethanol is going through an expansion stage and reaches new productive highs, biodiesel remains behind, with a recovery still insufficient compared to the levels it knew how to reach years ago. The contrast reflects both the evolution of the domestic market and the loss of export markets for biodiesel.
According to a report by the Rosario Stock Exchange (BCR), between January and July 2026 Argentine biodiesel production reached 621,000 tons, 12% more than in the same period last year. However, this is the third lowest cumulative of the last 17 years.
The historical comparison shows more clearly the retreat. In 2010, the first year of effective effect of the scheme provided for by Law 26,093 for compulsory cutting, production had approached one million tons. A decade and a half later, and even with a higher mandatory cut-off rate, the volume produced is 37% lower, with an average drop close to 3% per year.
Santa Fe remains the main producing province, although it lost participation. In the first seven months of the year he explained 56% of the biodiesel made in the country, 15 percentage points less than the average of the last decade and the second lowest record since the entry into force of the law. Buenos Aires, meanwhile, recorded its lowest production in four years, while La Pampa reached the highest volume of the last seven. Between Ríos and San Luis they also showed productive maximums, in both cases for recent periods.
The scenario is very different for bioethanol. Production has accumulated seven consecutive years of year-on-year growth until July and benefits especially from the increasing use of maize as a raw material and the record 2025/26 harvest.
Cereal accounted for 65% of the inputs used to produce bioethanol and allowed a record in the volume of corn destined for power generation. Córdoba concentrates 50% of the national production, entirely based on corn, while Tucumán contributes 20%, made exclusively with sugar cane. The rest is distributed between Jujuy, Salta, San Luis and Santa Fe.
The difference between the two biofuels is also explained by their markets. Bioethanol depends practically entirely on the domestic market and the quotas allocated to comply with the mandatory cut of the naphthas. So far this year, no exports were recorded, so the evolution of its production is directly linked to fuel consumption and mixing rate.
Biodiesel, on the other hand, has a divided demand between the domestic market and exports. Currently, 98.6% of domestic sales correspond, on average, to the supply of the mandatory oil cut. But the external market, which in other years had a decisive weight, lost prominence.
Category: Fuels
