EU looks into U.S. B99 dumping claim

31/05/2008 12:00 - 823 Views

BRUSSELS: The European Commission has begun investigating anti-dumping complaints which the region's biodiesel players have lodged against U.S. producers.

Brussels is asking Washington to provide the details on subsidies to the U.S. biodiesel refiners, according to media reports. Under the U.S. legislation, local refiners can enjoy a subsidy of up to US$300 a tonne by mixing imported biodiesel with mineral diesel.

The subsidies have resulted in a tremendous surge of U.S. B99 biodiesel exports - one per ent biodiesel mixed with 99 percent mineral diesel - to the European Union.

The European Biodiesel Board (EBB) claimed the U.S. exports of B99 to the European Union amounted to one million tonnes (1.1 million tons) or 15 percent of the region's biodiesel market last year.

Last month, EBB filed a formal complaint with the European Commission against the U.S. biodiesel sector. EBB said the U.S. biodiesel subsidies have resulted in a dramatic surge in the country's exports to the EU, disrupting the margins of European biodiesel producers and putting most of them out of business.

Filed from Singapore

27/05/2008 12:59:14 GMT

Source: www.energycurrent.com