WASHINGTON, DC — At the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s public hearing on the Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) for 2020, 2021, and 2022 Proposed Rule, commercial bakers strongly urged the EPA to decrease the proposed advanced biofuel quotas in an effort to protect the edible oil supply in an already challenged food supply chain.

“The EPA’s proposed increase in advanced biofuel required volume obligations (RVOs) could jeopardize the ability for our members to meet the constant demand of providing millions of baked goods to grocery stores, restaurants and federal feeding programs,” said Lee Sanders, senior VP, public affairs and government relations for the American Bakers Association (ABA). “That’s because soybean oil, a critical ingredient for bakers, has been increasingly diverted away from the food supply chain and toward the production of advanced biofuels, as federally directed by the RFS program.”

Ed Cinco, director of purchasing at Youngstown, OH-based Schwebel’s Baking Co., voiced concern over the drastic increase of non-food use for biodiesel and renewable diesel, noting the potential for it to double in the next two years.

“Vegetable oil prices have tripled in the past 12 months and possibly face rationing and shortages for 2022,” he said. “It is to the point where food companies cannot get quotes for future deliveries unless you are a current customer and even then, vendors are only willing to go through Q2 of 2022 at an escalated price. This means for some food companies, edible oil literally will not be available at any price due to diversion of edible oil from producing food.”

Existing domestic refining capacity for soybeans struggles to keep up with the demand from both food and fuel sectors despite record yields from American farms. In September and October 2021, the US became a net importer of soybean oil for the first time in more than a decade.