A sharp increase in quotations for soybean oil and oil in Chicago supported prices for vegetable oils

July soybean oil futures in Chicago rose by 6% on Friday to $1,112/ton (+3% per month) and have now reached $1,164/ton (+11% since Thursday) against the backdrop of a sharp 7% spike in oil prices caused by Israel's strikes on Iran and the U.S. government's decision to dramatically increase biofuel production mandates for 2026 and 2027 beyond what producers requested. The start of an open war between Israel and Iran and information about potential U.S. involvement in strikes on Iran led to a sharp increase in August Brent oil futures by 14% over the week to $76.5/barrel (+17.7% per month), which supported vegetable oil prices. However, the main driver of soybean oil price growth in Chicago was the unexpected proposal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to increase renewable fuel production obligations to 5.61 billion gallons for 2026 and 5.86 billion gallons for 2027, significantly exceeding the 3.35 billion gallons set for 2025 and the 5.5 billion gallons proposed by ...