logo
menu

National Biodiesel Board objects to EU trade barriers

The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) has filed comments with the European Commission (EC) challenging blocked US biodiesel exports to Europe.

Since 2009, the EC has prevented biodiesel exports trading from US to Europe, a move that the NBB calls 'unfair'.

NBB urges the EC to allow duties on US biodiesel imports to expire this year planned, arguing that global trade for biodiesel has changed dramatically since duties were imposed.

The biodiesel representatives also point out that European biodiesel producers can sell biodiesel in both Europe and the US without duties or limitation and participate freely in US policies such as the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and a US biodiesel tax incentive, and so US producers should be able to participate in the European market without having to pay punitive duties.

'As we speak, European biodiesel producers are sending biodiesel to the US, with significant policy support, while at the same time the European market has been cut off from US producers,' Anne Steckel, the NBB's vice president of federal affairs. The bottom line is that biodiesel trade is dramatically different in 2014 than it was in 2009 when the US industry was just getting off the ground,' Steckel says.

At present, the EC is conducting a 12-15 month 'expiry review' to decide whether these duties will continue.





224 queries in 0.507 seconds.