The availability of raw materials is an important factor affecting production capacity. Countries and regions in the Asian-pacific region choose biodiesel materials according to their own national conditions.Malaysia and Indonesia use the country’s abundant palm oil,since palm oil is not a crop, the development of biodiesel will not affect food supplies in both countries.The Philippines is the world’s largest producer of cocoa, so cocoa oil being used as its raw material.Australia and New Zealand are traditional animal husbandry countries, and beef oil is the main raw material.China imports a large amount of edible vegetable oil every year to meet the domestic consumption demand, and a large amount of cooking waste oil has become the main raw material for biodiesel production.Japan and South Korea, which do not have high oil content plant seeds, rely on cooking waste oil and imported vegetable oil to produce biodiesel.
In recent years, jatropha has also become a potential raw material,however, most jatropha are in the wild and their seeds mature over a long period (usually 4 years),the seed production is extremely limited and the improvement is slow,China and India are the only countries that have just started trying to grow jatropha on a large scale.
New Zealand, the Philippines and South Korea have all enacted mandatory regulations on the use of biofuels, which, although at a lower rate than in the European Union, will undoubtedly help keeping the demands stable.Australia, Thailand and South Korea all give biodiesel producers tax incentives,In addition to being exempt from corporate taxes, the government has also supported the development of the biodiesel market by funding, setting up industry funds and other incentives.
The biggest obstacle to develop the biodiesel is the soaring price of raw materials,the cost of raw materials accounts for about 80% of the cost of biodiesel, and the cost of biodiesel has increased significantly as the price of animal and plant oils and cooking oils has increased.In addition, consumers are not well aware of the advantages of biodiesel, which affects the growth of market demand.For their own benefits, the oil companies will reserve some of the promotion of biodiesel.