Between July and August 2025, glycerine prices surged across Southeast Asia due to feedstock inflation, regulatory shifts, and supply chain disruptions. El Niño-induced droughts in Indonesia, palm oil price hikes, and biodiesel mandates strained refined glycerine output. Malaysia faced similar issues with low oleochemical utilization and energy costs. Export restrictions, tax revisions, and logistical delays worsened global availability. Despite rising costs, demand remains strong in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and food sectors. Prices are expected to stay elevated throughout Q4 unless refining capacity expands.
During July-August 2025, prices of glycerine have inclined in the Southeast Asia region with prices of the refined product soaring in Malaysia and the spot market in Indonesia becoming tight. That spike is the result of a combination of factors that have seen feedstock inflation, regulatory change and supply chain bottlenecks all contributing to make glycerine availability tight on a global scale.
Glycerine is a useful by-product of biodiesel production, used in the field of cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, food additives, fuel blending. Humectant, stabilizing and sweetening properties make it unavoidable in sectors. Due to its production as a byproduct of palm oil-based transesterification process, the price of glycerine is closely coupled with the palm oil market situation in Indonesia and Malaysia, the major palm oil producers.
In Indonesia, El Ninos related droughts in the Sumatra and Kalimantan regions reduced production of palm fruits and caused a rise in the price of crude palm oil, conversely shooting up the price of glycerine. The B40 biodiesel requirement has also increased the production of glycerine further with refining capacity remaining low. Because of this, the supply of refined glycerine has become more constrained despite the increasing volumes of crude glycerine. The revisions done on taxes halfway through 2025 have increased compliance costs causing local producers to focus on catering to the domestic markets thus reducing the rates of exports increasing the glycerine prices in the international markets.
Malaysia is under similar strains The problem in glycerine production is a shortage of feedstock availability and low utilization of oleochemical plants. Crude glycerine is not going into the spot markets or is diverted to captive refining whilst high energy prices combined with low purification capacity has made refined glycerine a cast iron commodity. Malaysian refiners are facing the additional pressure of input cost inflation and decreased throughput due to high palm oil prices, and Indonesian restrictions on exports posing constraints on cross-border supply.
Logistical hiccups have added to the upward glycerine prices rally In Tanjung Priok in Indonesia, shortages of containers, labor strike, and crowding during the monsoon season has resulted in delays of shipments and freight rates have escalated to India, the UAE and the markets in the EU. Such hold ups have caused long delays, and buyers had to pay goods premiums in order to get guaranteed deliveries.
The downstream industries are absorbing the impact Glycerine in pharmaceuticals and personal care, however, cannot be replaced by any other substance constrained by regulations/performance limits. Due to the limited supply of USP-grade glycerine, premiums have increased and delivery timelines became stretched. Thailand cosmetics makers are increasingly using glycerine-high formulations, and sugar-free and functional foods also use glycerine in their exports. Although the costs keep increasing, demand is also strong.
In the outlook, glycerine prices are likely to remain high throughout the Q4 of 2025. Feedstock palm oil costs may remain balanced, however, bottlenecks in refining and export contracts may still limit the availability of the product that will be of premium grade.
