Selling animal fats in Europe starts with one question: which ABP category is it? Under the animal by-products regulation (EC) No 1069/2009, rendered fat is category 1, 2 or 3, and that single fact decides your buyer list. Category 1 and 2 fats (from specified risk material, fallen stock and similar) go to technical and fuel outlets -- biodiesel, HVO, oleochemistry -- and count double toward renewable obligations, which is why fuel plants pay for them. Category 3 fat (from material fit for human consumption at slaughter) has two competing markets: animal feed, its traditional home, and biofuel, its hungry new one -- a competition the feed industry is publicly unhappy about. After the category, the same three things decide everything as in every fat trade: the certificate chain, the analysis (FFA, MIU, sulphur), and volume continuity. Sell with all three in the file and category 1 fat outprices what most sellers expect; sell without them and even category 3 trades at a discount.
- 1Category 1, 2 or 3 material collected
- 2Rendered under an approved process
- 3Category marking and traceability follow the fat
- 4Assayed on FFA, MIU and sulphur
- 5Sold to feed (cat 3) or to fuel and chemistry
The category is the market: it decides who may buy, before any price conversation starts. Get the category, the certificate and the analysis in one file and rendered fat sells itself.
Step 1: the category decides the market
The category is not a detail -- it is the market. The animal by-products framework sorts material by risk, and every buyer's permit says which categories they may take.
| Category 1 | Highest risk: specified risk material, TSE-suspect carcasses, catering waste. Sterilized and rendered; the fat goes to technical outlets -- biodiesel, HVO, oleochemicals -- never to feed. |
|---|---|
| Category 2 | Fallen stock and condemned material. Technical, fuel and some fertilizer applications after processing; not feed. |
| Category 3 | Fit for human consumption at the point of slaughter: trimmings, offal fat, former foodstuffs. The only category allowed into animal feed -- and also wanted by fuel, which is where the price tension lives. |
| End point | Once rendered fat reaches a defined end point in an approved process (for example in biodiesel production), it leaves the ABP regime -- the trade continues under fuel and chemicals rules. |
Step 2 and 3: paperwork and analysis
Commercial documents first. Rendered fat moves with category marking and traceability under the ABP rules; a buyer's first check is whether your paperwork matches your claim. Category mistakes are not pricing issues, they are compliance issues.
The certificate chain. For fuel outlets, categories 1 and 2 are Annex IX Part B feedstocks with double counting in several countries -- but only with a proof of sustainability behind the cargo. Category 3 is not in Part B; it prices differently and its buyers differ too (see our RED III page).
The analysis. FFA, moisture and impurities (MIU), sulphur and colour are the numbers in every tallow conversation. Sulphur matters doubly: impurities track protein residues, and fuel buyers watch them. Test every consolidated lot and keep the prints.
Continuity. Renderers produce steadily; buyers of rendered fat buy steadily. Contracted monthly flow earns premium treatment -- spot tanks earn spot discounts.
Step 4: choosing the buyer list
For category 1 and 2, the buyers are biodiesel plants running TME, renewable diesel and HVO producers, and oleochemical users. Double counting makes the compliance maths work; the certificate makes it yours. Our who buys animal fat page maps this list in detail.
For category 3, decide (or let the market decide) between feed compounders and pet food on one side and fuel on the other. The feed side values consistency and specification discipline over cycles; the fuel side's pull moves with mandates. Many renderers sell into both and let the relative prices do the sorting.
One honest note for category 3 sellers: the feed industry is lobbying hard against fat flowing to fuel, because it raises their input costs. That is a sign of exactly one thing -- your material is wanted. Sell accordingly.
Frequently asked questions
Which animal fat is worth more, category 1 or category 3?
Not automatically either. Category 1 and 2 earn the fuel market's double-counted compliance value with a certificate; category 3 straddles feed and fuel and can command feed-grade pricing in its own market. The certificate and the analysis usually matter more than the category for the final number.
Can category 3 fat go into fuel?
Yes -- category 3 is not restricted from technical or fuel uses; what changes is the compliance accounting, because category 3 is not an Annex IX Part B feedstock. Fuel buyers take it, but the quota value differs, and that shows in the price.
What documents does a fat cargo need?
ABP category marking and traceability for the category claim, the rendering plant's approval references, a current analysis, and for fuel outlets the proof of sustainability chain. Cross-border movement adds the waste/ABP shipment paperwork -- see our waste shipment rules page.
Why did my tallow price drop?
Usually one of three numbers moved: FFA (processing cost for the buyer), MIU (paid tonnage that is not fat), or sulphur. Sometimes the feed-versus-fuel balance shifted. Send the latest analysis and the volume pattern and we will tell you which one it was.
Market news
Recent headlines from across the feedstock and renewable fuel sector. Nothing specific to this market has come through the wires lately, so this is the wider view. The links go to the publisher; we do not host or edit their reporting, and a headline here is not our endorsement of it. Scroll for more.
- Singapore, Brazil move to build green fuel shipping corridor
- Auramarine builds business on marine fuel flexibility
- Stargate Hydrogen Strengthens Nordic Expansion with Petri Sarnes, Former Siemens Power Sector Director of FinBaltic region
- Econetix Adds New Biochar And Bamboo Project To Its Portfolio
- Open call for the second Circular Economy Awards for the Western Balkan region
- TFG Marine installs ISO-certified mass flow meters on two US Gulf bunker barges
- DNV flags ‘strong summer’ for alternative-fuelled vessel orders
- Everllence launches engine-supported air lubrication tech
- Continental Develops Tyre with More Than 40% Recycled Materials for EU Project
- Evaluating the Health Impact Assessment on the UK’s Tyre Recycling Sector
- Oiltraining’s Visser joins IBIA as new Training & Technical Advisor
- Global hydrogen fuel cell market to reach $13.1 billion by 2031, research finds
- OMV Petrom expands Its green hydrogen production capacity at the Petrobrazi refinery to 55 MW
- Innovation funding awarded for next phase of Northern Gas Networks hydrogen storage project
- Haffner targets deal for 12 biomass-to-hydrogen units in western US
- Alfa Laval selected as technology provider for electrolyzer cooling in one of Europe’s largest renewable hydrogen projects
- ABO Energy and the City of Oulu sign agreement to advance hydrogen plant zoning
- SK Innovation E&S and Deokyang Energen to build five combined hydrogen refueling stations in South Korea
18 headlines, updated automatically. Last refreshed .
Sources and further reading
Primary sources for the rules and figures on this page, so you can check them yourself. Legislation is amended: always read the consolidated text on the date that matters to you.
Who to ask about How to sell animal fats
Just ask. Sitting on rendered fat of any category? Send the category, the analysis (FFA, MIU, sulphur) and volume and we will tell you where it lands. You get Bart van den Brug on the other end, same working day, in English or Dutch, and across the team also in French, Portuguese, Polish, Czech and Russian.
On how we work: on the feedstocks and fuels on this site we are a broker. We never take title, we do not trade our own book, and we are paid a commission on business that concludes. Additives are the one exception: those we also buy and sell for our own account, and we say in which capacity we are acting before you commit to anything. Either way you will hear it from us when the answer is no, or when your parcel is not ready for the conversation you want to have. A market read or a second opinion on a specification costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Happy to look at whatever you have, even if it is half an analysis and a question.
+31 6 115 83 448
bart@sustainablecommodities.eu
Sustainable Commodities 3 B.V., Lemmer, the Netherlands
Ask about How to sell animal fats
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Last reviewed 03 September 2026. Regulatory references are given for orientation and are not legal advice: verify against the current Official Journal text before contracting.