A shipment of ethanol from Brazil left Santos on November 21 and is due to land in Dunkirk, France December 7, according to Platts' trade flow software cFlow.
The Chemroad Hope is carrying a combination of 2,500 cum of neutral ethanol, 2,500 cu m of hydrous industrial and 800 cu m of fuel anhydrous. It was fixed by Raizen and Alcotra, a source said.
The import was one of a number heard to be coming to Europe in December.
There were two shipments of T1 material of 10,000 cu m each coming from the US to Norway. A vessel from Peru was also heard to be coming to the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp area in December.
Imports into Europe in 2015 have been low compared with previous years which has contributed to supply issues and supported prices for much of the year in Rotterdam.
By Friday, a number of participants were expecting an uptick in imports, triggered by opened arbitrages, was bringing prices down from three-year highs on November 19.
But one trader did not think the imports would lead to a price collapse in November. "We've seen the import reports but that is not enough to re-stock", he said.
By Friday's close, the T2 ethanol assessment dropped Eur44/cu m to Eur638.50/cu m, on a number of pro-active offers. " Eur645/cu m is not low," the trader said referring to the physical indications seen in Friday's trading.
