Biofuels hype ignores challenges: Rabobank

Australia’s biofuels industry – which has a number of Western Australian entrants – faces big challenges to becoming a strong, stable, cost-effective source of alterative energy.

The report says the future of a sustainable biofuel industry in Australia will depend on a number of factors including consumer acceptance, motor industry and fuel industry cooperation, the price of oil, the price of feedstocks and by-products, the US dollar/Australian dollar exchange rate and plant construction and operation costs. Chief among these, however, will be the level of long-term government support provided to the industry and the availability of feedstock.
“In Australia it is unlikely that production of grains, oilseeds and sugar can be increased significantly enough to support the biofuel, human consumption, export and livestock markets,” Report author and Rabobank analyst Ingrid Richardson says.

WA Business News