Brazil Raises Biodiesel Mandate to B15 from 1 August 2025, Gasoline Ethanol Goes to E30

Brasília — Brazil's National Energy Policy Council (CNPE) on Wednesday, 25 June 2025, approved raising the mandatory biodiesel blend in diesel from 14% (B14) to 15% (B15). At the same meeting it raised the anhydrous ethanol content of gasoline from 27.5% to 30% (E30). Both changes take effect on 1 August 2025, according to Safras.

The decision was taken at the CNPE's second extraordinary meeting, held at the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) in Brasília. According to AgFeed, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva attended. The CNPE is an advisory body to the presidency on energy policy; it is chaired by the MME and includes 16 other ministries, the energy research company EPE, and representatives of civil society and universities.

Delayed over food inflation fears

B15 was already provided for in the Fuel of the Future Law (Lei do Combustível do Futuro), passed in September 2024, with an original start date of March 2025. In February 2025, however, the government postponed the increase. According to AgFeed, the concern was that higher soybean demand would push up soybean oil prices and worsen food inflation. The CNPE said at the time that it needed further studies and cited concerns over fuel supply and oversight of biofuel distribution. Industry criticised the delay and warned that planned investments could be suspended.

Data from Brazil's vegetable oil industry association Abiove, cited by AgFeed, showed biodiesel output rose about 8% in the first quarter of 2025 while cooking oil prices fell 5.7%. Federal deputy Arnaldo Jardim, vice-president of the Parliamentary Agricultural Front (FPA), pointed to several factors that cleared the way for B15: Minister Alexandre Silveira's meeting with the Federal Police on fuel fraud, an industry commitment to donate equipment to the oil and biofuels regulator ANP to strengthen inspections, and legislative steps against fraud in the sector.

Expected impact

Abiove expects B15 to add about 300 million litres of biodiesel production by the end of 2025. At the then industrial biodiesel price of R$5.40 per litre (including taxes), that would bring around R$1.6 billion in extra revenue to the sector. AgFeed also noted that Brazil's installed soybean crushing capacity is about 72 million tonnes, with around 58 million tonnes expected to be processed this year. On gasoline, MME Secretary of Oil, Natural Gas and Biofuels Pietro Mendes presented an estimate that E30 could cut gasoline prices by up to R$0.11 per litre, Safras reported.

Industry reaction was largely positive:

• Francisco Turra, chairman of the board of biofuel producers' association APROBIO, said the CNPE's decision to honour the Fuel of the Future Law should be celebrated, as quoted by Agrolink. He said a mandate with legal certainty opens a new growth cycle for the sector.
• Erasmo Carlos Battistella, CEO of Be8, Brazil's largest biodiesel producer, said the blending schedule must not suffer further delays.
• Daniel Furlan, Abiove's director of economics and regulatory affairs, said the decision came at a time of low industry margins.

Why it matters for Indonesian palm oil

Brazil and Indonesia both use biodiesel mandates to absorb domestic farm output, but with different crops: Brazil's debate centres on soybeans and soybean oil, while Indonesia relies on palm oil. For comparison, Indonesia was already running B40 in 2025, well above Brazil's B15. Indonesia's mandate history is available on the biodiesel regulation page.

The Brazilian case also illustrates a dilemma familiar to Indonesia: mandate increases can be held back by food-price concerns, and keeping to schedule depends heavily on credible quality control and distribution oversight. For the global vegetable oil market, additional domestic soybean oil demand in Brazil is one of the factors traders watch, including palm oil stakeholders.