Major economies in Southeast Asia have been pressing the use of renewable diesel (RD) as an
alternative to petroleum diesel. Currently, the major RD produced and consumed in Southeast Asia
is biodiesel (BD), produced from edible oils. The use of edible oils produced by Southeast Asian
countries is also consumed in various industries. This gives rise to the need to have a quantitative
long-term assessment of their potential availability for BD production. In this study, the potential
existing major raw material that could be tapped for biodiesel production in Southeast Asia was
identified. Future demands for biodiesel and the amount of biodiesel that could potentially be produced were also estimated. These are to provide a practical assessment of the readiness of the
Southeast Asian countries in the use of BD. Only Indonesia and Malaysia have surplus oils from oilseeds for BD production. However, if the trade of resources is limited within major countries in
Southeast Asia, the blending of BD could be increased up to 50 to 70% in diesel fuels until the
year 2040. The minimum biodiesel production potential in Southeast Asia is 36 Mm3 per year to as
much as
61 to 87 Mm3 by 2040.