EU slaps import fees on US biodiesel
The European Union has slapped import fees on US biodiesel, saying it had to protect European producers from unfair American subsidies and below-cost selling.
The EU fees will affect biodiesel sold by Archer Daniels Midland Co., Cargill Inc. and several others to Europe, the world's biggest user and producer of crop-based fuels.
EU trade spokesman Lutz Guellner said the fees were based on ‘clear evidence that unfair subsidization and dumping of US biodiesel has taken place and that this is harming otherwise competitive EU industry with potentially dire long-term effects.’
The EU said US biodiesel producers sold biodiesel to Europe far below the real costs of production and received federal tax credits and state subsidies.
It said this helped US exporters increase their share of the EU market for biodiesel from 0.4 percent in 2005 to more than 17 percent from April 2007 to March 2008.
The US is the EU's biggest foreign supplier of biodiesel, providing euro700 million worth of fuel to a total market worth €5 billion.
The duties will initially be in place for four months, starting 13 March, and could be confirmed after that for up to five years.
The European Biodiesel Board said the new import fees would help re-establish a level playing field for European producers, claiming unfair US competition has already caused some companies to go bankrupt or to quit biodiesel production.
‘For more than two years, US biodiesel has been sold in the European market at a substantial discount, even at a lower price than the vegetable oil raw materials purchased by the EU industry for producing biodiesels,’ it said in a statement.
The EU fees will affect biodiesel sold by Archer Daniels Midland Co., Cargill Inc. and several others to Europe, the world's biggest user and producer of crop-based fuels.
EU trade spokesman Lutz Guellner said the fees were based on ‘clear evidence that unfair subsidization and dumping of US biodiesel has taken place and that this is harming otherwise competitive EU industry with potentially dire long-term effects.’
The EU said US biodiesel producers sold biodiesel to Europe far below the real costs of production and received federal tax credits and state subsidies.
It said this helped US exporters increase their share of the EU market for biodiesel from 0.4 percent in 2005 to more than 17 percent from April 2007 to March 2008.
The US is the EU's biggest foreign supplier of biodiesel, providing euro700 million worth of fuel to a total market worth €5 billion.
The duties will initially be in place for four months, starting 13 March, and could be confirmed after that for up to five years.
The European Biodiesel Board said the new import fees would help re-establish a level playing field for European producers, claiming unfair US competition has already caused some companies to go bankrupt or to quit biodiesel production.
‘For more than two years, US biodiesel has been sold in the European market at a substantial discount, even at a lower price than the vegetable oil raw materials purchased by the EU industry for producing biodiesels,’ it said in a statement.
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