Ethanol consumption in Spain jumped 22.5% month-on-month in August to 21,646 tonnes, Platts reports, citing official statistics by CORES, which manages Spain's strategic oil reserves.

The rise was well ahead of the 2.6% monthly increase in gasoline sales, translating into a blending rate of 4.63%, up from 3.88% in the previous month and 4.60% in August 2016.

Year-on-year ethanol consumption rose 2.5%, while gasoline use was up 1.7%. In the first eight months of 2017, 166,542 tonnes of ethanol were consumed and the blending rate was 5.11%, compared to 5.08% a year ago, according to the data released earlier in October.

Biodiesel consumption, meanwhile, was down 5.5% to 94,030 tonnes, although it grew 9.9% on the year.

Spain increased its biofuel blending mandate from the start of 2017 to 5% from 4.3%.

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