EU Group Seeks Duties on U.S. Ethanol

06/11/2011 12:00 - 379 Views

CRANBURY, N.J. (DTN) -- ePURE, a trade association of European ethanol producers, has requested the European Commission "to act against unfair imports of fuel ethanol from the United States," according to a news release from the association.

The trade group pointed to 20 years of government support for the U.S. ethanol industry, including blending tax subsidies, import tariffs and federally mandated demand. ePURE said this policy has made the U.S. the world's largest producer of ethanol.

"This policy is legitimate as long as it does not prejudice the development of ethanol for fuel use in other countries," said ePURE. "But U.S. operators, which are faced with a domestic ethanol market that is nearing saturation, have chosen to allocate a growing share of their production to exports towards the European Union."

The trade group says U.S. ethanol exports to Europe have surged 500% from 2008 to 2010.

"In 2011, these imports are expected to be twice as high as in 2010. This impressive trend is the direct result of U.S. federal and sub-federal subsidies, which allow U.S. operators to adopt aggressive pricing practices on the European market," said ePURE.

The trade group said the "very low prices have a direct and negative impact on the EU industry," which is described as small and still in its infancy when compared with the U.S. industry.

"Massive and sudden imports of U.S. ethanol, combined with unfairly low prices over the last few years, have seriously damaged the economic situation of European producers," said Rob Vierhout, secretary-general. "The unfair competition of U.S. imports is simply depriving the EU industry from the benefit of this positive evolution on its own domestic market."

The news release said the Brussels-based association has requested the European Commission to investigate the U.S. trade practices and their impact on the EU industry.

"ePURE is confident that the Commission's investigation will confirm that these practices are causing a serious prejudice to European producers and will clearly establish the need to impose dissuasive duties on U.S. imports of fuel ethanol in order to restore fair conditions of competition as early as possible," said the trade association.

ePURE said it has "also requested the European Commission to impose a registration of U.S. imports so that duties are imposed retroactively to take account of possible manipulation during the investigation period."

4:40PM CDT 11/02/11

By Brian L Milne

Source: dtnprogressivefarmer.com