EBB monitoring biodiesel imports from Argentina

The European Biodiesel Board has an ongoing dialogue with the European Commission so it can “react quickly” to any evidence it gathers regarding the U.S. colluding with Argentina to circumvent countervailing measures imposed against the states, said Amandine Lacourt of the EBB. “The situation is currently under investigation,” she told Biodiesel Magazine. “A lot of biodiesel already flows from Argentina to Europe and we have noticed an increase in the volumes, so it might be easier for some fraudulent practices to occur.”

Argentina has a tax system that promotes the processing of soy beans: the tax on raw soybeans is 35 percent; soy oil is 32 percent and soy methyl esters is 20 percent. “So there definitely is an incentive to produce and export biodiesel,” Lacourt says. “With other incentives the tax is even lower, and we think that it is creating distortions in the market. We do know, however, that it is not illegal under WTO rules.”

Of course, this system is entirely different than the U.S. blenders credit, which the EC concluded allowed American producers to sell biodiesel in Europe below cost. This initiated the EC to enact “countervailing measures” to make the competition fair. European parties are concerned however that Argentina and U.S. producers could conspire to circumvent the anti-dumping laws by essentially taking advantage of incentives in both countries, and then selling it in Europe at low cost and high profit.