Renewable Identification Number markets traded higher weekly for the week of July 31 and Aug. 6, according to the EcoEngineers Carbon Market Snapshot.
Current-year D4 2026 RINs, used for biomass-based diesel, traded at $2.21 per RIN on Thursday, up from $2.17/RIN a week earlier.
D5 2026 RINs were trading around $2.19/RIN, up from $2.15/RIN last week.
D6 2026 corn-based ethanol RIN prices finished trading on Thursday at $2.16/RIN, up from $2.12/RIN a week ago.
Zander Capozzola, principal consultant at Argus Media, said that RIN prices have been pressured by weakness in the soybean oil-to-heating oil spread, as soybean oil prices decoupled from diesel.
The BOHO spread rebounded from its lowest level in almost four months to reach $1.34 per US gallon on Aug. 4 before ending Thursday at $1.20/USG, Capozzola said.
"Soybean oil came under pressure as inventories were not being drawn down as fast as expectations, leading traders to suspect biofuel demand for SBO was lagging," he said.
The September BOHO spread was $1.25/USG as of Friday. Despite recent RIN weakness in the second half of July, RIN premiums to the BOHO spread have remained resilient, indicating healthy profitability for renewable diesel and biodiesel producers, Capozzola said.
Meanwhile, Monday's small refinery exemption announcement reinforced expectations that the Environmental Protection Agency will continue using its Department of Energy scorecard methodology, Capozzola said.
"A slightly more generous application of this approach brought 160 million RINs to the market, which will not be reallocated to future obligations," Capozzola said.
The SRE actions could raise expectations that the EPA will show similar leniency in its 2025 SRE approvals, which are expected to be announced this month ahead of the Sept. 1, 2025, compliance deadline.
"Argus estimates show this could free up an additional approximately 200mn 2025 RINs compared with our base case assumption," he said.