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Released July 31, 2024 | GALWAY, IRELAND
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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The European Commission (EC) intends to impose anti-dumping tariffs of up to 36.4% on biodiesel imports from China following a collapse in the market price over the past two years.
Almost 40 Chinese suppliers will face the 36.4% provisional tariff from mid-August, according to a pre-disclosure document, with another three companies looking at tariffs ranging from between 12.8% and 36.4%. Collapsing biodiesel prices have had a negative impact on projects in the sector, including Shell plc's (NYSE:SHEL) (London, England) recent decision to pause construction of a major biofuels facility in Rotterdam due to poor market conditions. The project, which kicked off in 2021 and is being tracked by Industrial Info, would produce biofuels from organic waste and have an eventual capacity of 820,000 tons per year, or approximately 5.8 million barrels, with a startup date in 2025. For additional information, see July 3, 2024, article - Citing Market Woes, Shell Pauses Work on Rotterdam Biofuels.
The news was welcomed by industry group European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which fought for the investigation last year. President of the EBB, Dickon Posnett, said: "Our European businesses have been suffering for far too long under the pressure of unfairly priced Chinese imports and we are very happy to see the European Commission take action. Today we obtained measures that will start to rebalance the scales. Our next step is to work with the EU to close loopholes that will otherwise undermine this good work, and also to work with Member States and the Commission to ensure any fraudulent practices are dealt with in the future by a more robust sustainability certification system." However, the EBB said it was "gravely concerned" at the EU's unexpected exclusion of dumped Chinese Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) from these provisional measures.
The weak market has led to a number of recent actions by major players in the European market, including Chevron Renewable Energy Group, which introduced a furlough on workers at its German biodiesel plant in Oeding due to an oversupply in the market. Last month, BP (NYSE:BP) (London, England) pressed pause on a number of global biofuels project, including a bio-diesel project at its Lingen facility in Germany.
Leading clean transport lobby Transport & Environment (T&E) said the tariffs were a "step in the right direction" for limiting imports of dubious used cooking oil (UCO) biofuels, but added that they will not be enough to prevent fraudulently mislabeled palm oil from entering the European market. It noted that over the past two years, the European biofuels market has been flooded with UCO imports from China, causing a collapse in the market price from around 2,250 euros (US$2,448) per tonne to 1,100 euros (US$1,197). A recent study by T&E showed that collection in China is as much as 30% cheaper than in Europe. Inherent problems with verification and certification mean that much of the UCO entering Europe may also be fraudulently labeled palm oil.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
Almost 40 Chinese suppliers will face the 36.4% provisional tariff from mid-August, according to a pre-disclosure document, with another three companies looking at tariffs ranging from between 12.8% and 36.4%. Collapsing biodiesel prices have had a negative impact on projects in the sector, including Shell plc's (NYSE:SHEL) (London, England) recent decision to pause construction of a major biofuels facility in Rotterdam due to poor market conditions. The project, which kicked off in 2021 and is being tracked by Industrial Info, would produce biofuels from organic waste and have an eventual capacity of 820,000 tons per year, or approximately 5.8 million barrels, with a startup date in 2025. For additional information, see July 3, 2024, article - Citing Market Woes, Shell Pauses Work on Rotterdam Biofuels.
The news was welcomed by industry group European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which fought for the investigation last year. President of the EBB, Dickon Posnett, said: "Our European businesses have been suffering for far too long under the pressure of unfairly priced Chinese imports and we are very happy to see the European Commission take action. Today we obtained measures that will start to rebalance the scales. Our next step is to work with the EU to close loopholes that will otherwise undermine this good work, and also to work with Member States and the Commission to ensure any fraudulent practices are dealt with in the future by a more robust sustainability certification system." However, the EBB said it was "gravely concerned" at the EU's unexpected exclusion of dumped Chinese Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) from these provisional measures.
The weak market has led to a number of recent actions by major players in the European market, including Chevron Renewable Energy Group, which introduced a furlough on workers at its German biodiesel plant in Oeding due to an oversupply in the market. Last month, BP (NYSE:BP) (London, England) pressed pause on a number of global biofuels project, including a bio-diesel project at its Lingen facility in Germany.
Leading clean transport lobby Transport & Environment (T&E) said the tariffs were a "step in the right direction" for limiting imports of dubious used cooking oil (UCO) biofuels, but added that they will not be enough to prevent fraudulently mislabeled palm oil from entering the European market. It noted that over the past two years, the European biofuels market has been flooded with UCO imports from China, causing a collapse in the market price from around 2,250 euros (US$2,448) per tonne to 1,100 euros (US$1,197). A recent study by T&E showed that collection in China is as much as 30% cheaper than in Europe. Inherent problems with verification and certification mean that much of the UCO entering Europe may also be fraudulently labeled palm oil.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
