Platts to launch Dutch Advanced Ethanol FOB ARA assessments

Platts will publish daily Dutch Advanced Ethanol FOB ARA assessments from July 14, giving the Netherlands a new price marker for advanced ethanol eligible for transport compliance use. The assessment will quote both an outright value and a premium to Ethanol T2 FOB Rotterdam, tying policy-driven demand to a clearer physical barge reference in Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp.

The proposed benchmark will cover undenatured fuel ethanol meeting Platts’ T2 FOB Rotterdam purity specifications, but only when it is made from feedstocks that qualify as advanced in the Netherlands. That means Annex IX Part A material will be reflected, while Annex IX-B material will not. Platts said the assessment must meet a minimum greenhouse-gas saving of 90% versus the Renewable Energy Directive fossil comparator of 94g CO2e/MJ, and it will be quoted on a T2 duty-paid FOB Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp basis in euros per cubic metre.

Platts said the benchmark will use a 1,000 metric ton volume, normalize other volumes if needed, and reflect any-month loading barges. The roll from the current month to the next month will take place 10 clear working days before month-end. In the absence of a balance month swap to value current-month loading barges, Platts said it would take into account the value of days published and the M1 T2 Ethanol FOB Rotterdam paper assessment, AAXCL00. Platts asked for written comments by June 8.

The launch lands as the Dutch compliance system leans harder on renewable energy units, or HBEs, to meet transport-fuels targets. The Dutch Emissions Authority says Annex IX Part A feedstocks are treated as advanced and credited as HBE Advanced, while Annex IX-B material is credited separately as HBE Annex IX-B. A dedicated advanced-ethanol benchmark gives traders, blenders and compliance buyers a visible premium signal against the generic Rotterdam T2 paper market, which should help value contracts that track the Dutch advanced pool rather than the broader ethanol barrel.

Platts is also tightening its main Rotterdam ethanol marker. It said it will lift the minimum greenhouse-gas savings threshold for Ethanol T2 FOB Rotterdam assessments to 75% from July 1, raising the maximum carbon intensity reflected to 23.5 g CO2e/MJ. With the Netherlands reshaping its RED III implementation and the European Commission continuing to frame advanced biofuels as a transport decarbonization tool, the new Dutch Advanced assessment gives the market a pricing layer that better matches the compliance rules now taking shape.