The weak dollar may result in pain at the pump and grumbling at the grocery store, but it’s a definite boon for the domestic biofuel business. A New York firm announced today that they had dispatched their first 15,000 barrel shipment of biodiesel, headed for Amsterdam.  This significantly trims the routes traditionally used by West Coast US producers, lessening the shipment’s carbon impact. 

Europe should be a fertile market over the coming years for US biofuel producers, as European government incentives on cleaner energy, and an innovative cap-and-trade system combine with a favorable exchange rate to make the plant-based fuel a good buy. Plus a greater percentage of European automobiles use diesel engines, putting the fuel in higher demand.

The US firm, Innovation Biofuels, claims a margin “significantly above” 20 cents per gallon on the shipment, in part because its biofuel production involves a wide variety of sources, freeing it from recent price pressures placed on soy and other biofuel crops. That figure yields a profit of over 9.3 million dollars for the entire shipment.

These margins will likely increase as algal biofuels and high-yield, non-foodstock biofuels, such as Miscanthus, gain a larger role in the market.