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By Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo,
Reporter
Studies
conducted by the Asian Institute of Petroleum Studies Inc. (AIPSI)
and the US National Biofuels Board (NBB) found that biofuels have
limited impact on food supply and pricing despite a UK-based study
claiming otherwise.
“While the Gallagher Review is
specific to the United Kingdom’s own renewable fuels policies, it
is fair to note that the research done by US experts and the US
Department of Agriculture has proved that biofuels-related feedstock
demand has limited impact on global food supply and pricing,” Joe
Jobe, NBB chief executive officer, said.
He added that the addition of
biofuels to the US fuel supply is one of the only things that keep
fuel prices from going higher contrary to the study conducted by
UK’s Renewable Fuels Agency, which claimed that biofuels
contribute to rising prices.
Because of this, the Gallagher
review called for a slowdown in biofuel use until effective controls
are in place to prevent land use change and higher food prices.
But Raffy Diaz, AIPSI managing
director, said that the situation in the UK may not be similar to
the Philippines’ whose biofuel program is being banked upon by the
government to mitigate the effects of rising crude prices, which
have pushed food prices up including coconut—the country’s main
biofuel source.
“A situation in one country
cannot be echoed as being true, globally,” he said.
Diaz added that the impact of
biofuel feedstock eating up on food supply is very much below 10
percent on a global basis and mainly pertains to corn for ethanol
and soybean for biodiesel.
He said the country’s biodiesel
requirement at 1-percent biodiesel blend (B1), which is mainly
sourced from coco methyl ester derived from coconut, is around 60 to
70 million liters annually because demand for diesel is between 6 to
7 billion liters but is fast declining due to high fuel cost.
For a 2-percent biodiesel blend
(B2), the requirement will be double to around 112 to 114 million
liters by 2009.
“From coco-oil production of
1.4 billion liters per year more or less, the biodiesel component
will translate to just 4 to 5 percent for B1 and 8 to 10 percent for
B2,” Diaz said.
He added that “the coco methyl
ester requirement for B1 and eventually B2 is less than 10 percent
of total coconut oil production so it would be obvious that the
steep rise in coco oil price cannot be totally attributed to
biodiesel.” 
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