German road transport fuel demand in January down 27% on year

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - German demand for road transport fuels remained severely dented in January this year, as expected given the extended Covid-19 lockdown in place, with deliveries of gasoline and diesel 27% down on the year-ago level at 3.5 million mt.

Gasoline was hardest hit, falling to 982,357 mt, a drop of 33% year-on-year and 20% month-on-month.

Diesel sales were 23% lower on the year and 21% down on the month, at 2.2 million mt.

Biofuel usage fell tracking lower fossil fuel sales, although ethanol increased its blending rate into gasoline to 7.9% for the month, up from 6.9% in January 2020.

Overall ethanol consumption was 77,321 mt for January this year, of which 10,429 mt was from ETBE.

Biodiesel sales, including both fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) and drop-in hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), was 175,431 mt, or an 8% blending rate, which compares with an 8.1% blending rate in January last year.

Germany has been under national lockdown since November last year, after a series of extensions put in place as the country struggled to lower infection rates, although measures began to be eased starting in March this year.