Sharp rise in soybean oil and crude oil quotes in Chicago supported vegetable oil prices

July soybean oil futures in Chicago rose 6% to $1,112/t on Friday (+3% for the month) and have now reached $1,164/t (+11% from Thursday) amid a sharp 7% jump in oil prices caused by Israeli strikes on Iran and the US government’s decision to sharply increase US biofuel production mandates for 2026 and 2027 by more than producers had requested. The start of an open war between Israel and Iran and information about the possible US joining the strikes on Iran led to a sharp increase in August Brent crude futures by 14% in a week to $76.5/barrel (+17.7% in a month), which supported vegetable oil prices. But the main driver of soybean oil price growth in Chicago was the unexpected proposal by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to increase renewable biofuel production commitments to 5.61 billion gallons by 2026 and 5.86 billion gallons by 2027, significantly exceeding the 3.35 billion gallons set for 2025 and the 5.5 billion gallons proposed by the oil and biofuel industries ...