Of the 1,093 million lb of feedstocks used to produce biodiesel in October, 50.41% was soybean oil, a 1.21 percentage point decline from September, US Energy Information Administration data showed Monday.
Soybean oil remained the largest biodiesel feedstock, with 551 million lb consumed, and the share fell for the third consecutive month and seventh time in the 10 months reported in 2013, the EIA said in its latest monthly biodiesel production report.
The next three largest biodiesel feedstocks were palm oil (100 million lb), corn oil (85 million lb), canola (82 million lb) and alcohol (81 million lb), according to the EIA.
Market sources have described 2013 as a breakout year for corn oil as a biodiesel feedstock. Corn oil made up 7.77% of biodiesel feedstocks, a significant gain from October 2012, when it was the sixth-largest feedstock at 3.96% of production.
Monthly production of biodiesel edged up 5 million gallons to 132 million gallons, with 67% of production coming from the Midwest region, unchanged from September, the EIA said.
Producer sales of biodiesel during October included 92 million gallons sold as B100 (100% biodiesel) and an additional 41 million gallons of B100 sold in biodiesel blends with diesel fuel derived from petroleum, the EIA said.
Production came from 112 biodiesel plants -- up two plants from September -- with an annual production capacity of 2.2 billion gal/year, according to the EIA.