The Philippines will require oil blenders in the country to buy a total of 46,065 cubic meters of locally produced ethanol in the fourth quarter, up 2,965 cu m or 6.9% from the initial figure announced in July.
The agency released the so-called Local Monthly Allocation for Q4 on September 16, and oil companies said they received the notices this week and last week.
Market sources said the later-than-normal notice would not affect blenders as much as they had anticipated.
"They worked around the initial figure they received and went out and bought some imported supplies," said a Singapore-based ethanol trader.
A source at a medium-sized blender said it was not unduly affected as it does not buy large volumes of imported fuel-grade ethanol.
"The [local monthly allocation] is on a quarterly basis, so there is some room for us to source supplies from nearby," he said.
"Late or not, we still have to lift our total quota no matter how late they give it to us."
