Biodiesel changes made at Sofiprotéol

The financial and industrial arm of the French protein and plant oil industry Sofiprotéol is adjusting the scope of its European activities in biodiesel.

Its biodiesel activities are handled by DII, a company split 60% by Sofiprotéol subsidiary Diester Industrie and 40% by Bunge Group subsidiary KBBV.

Belgian company Oleon Biodiesel, which was owned by DII, will now be owned directly by Diester Industrie. Bunge is also purchasing two Dll units based at Bunge's seed crushing sites, one in Bruck, Austria and the other in Mannheim, Germany.

The DII joint venture will however continue to own its Italian subsidiary Novaol Srl, plus 50% of the German company NEW.  DII's biodiesel production capacity will therefore be reduced from 1 million tonnes to 700,000 after these adjustments have been made.

A Sofiprotéol statement says the changes are ‘designed to improve coherence between the seed crushing, refining and esterification plants of the Plant Products Division and are in line with our sectoral strategy and the goals of the CAP 2018 strategic plan’.