2008 will be another annus horribilis, page-5

The oil majors are dragging their feet on selling biodiesel blends, that combined with high oilseed prices means that existing biodiesel production capability is greatly underutilised at the moment.

Even with governments worldwide introducing mandated biodiesel blends it will take a while for actual production to come close to fully utilising the production capability of existing plants.

In the near term very few, if any, biodiesel plants can turn a profit on biodiesel alone without government subsidies. It is this fact that is keeping down the share prices of biodiesel producers down.

Fortunately for NFL they have the capacity to convert crude glycerine into pharmaceutical grade glycerine independent of biodiesel production. Key date to look for in the short term is for the quarterly cashflow report at the end of April 2008. That will be the first opportunity to get a clearer picture of the profitability of NFL's plans for the short to medium term.