EU Considering Duties on Imports of Biodiesel from Indonesia, Argentina

The European Commission is considering possible anti-dumping duties on imports of biodiesel from Indonesia and Argentina, according to unnamed sources cited by Reuters. The provisional duties could be confirmed as early as next week, pending the final investigation results.

The investigation was launched by the Commission last year, in response to a request by the European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents manufacturers accounting for over a quarter of EU biodiesel production. The EBB has claimed that the two countries, which together make up 90 percent of biodiesel imports into the EU, maintain differential export taxes - in other words, higher export taxes for the raw materials used to produce biodiesel than on biodiesel itself. The group argues that the practice discourages raw material exports in favour of biodiesel exports.

The news comes shortly after Argentina - in a separate development - filed its own complaint at the WTO against the EU and some of its member states over allegedly unfair trade practices involving the importation and marketing of biodiesel, as well as the subsidisation of the 27-country bloc’s domestic market.