EU imposes duties on Chinese biodiesel imports for dumping violations
07 August 2024
Reuters recently reported that the European Union will be imposing provisional duties on the import of biodiesel from China pursuant to the EU’s anti-dumping regulation. According to a summary of the proposed duties published July 19 by the European Commission, the duties will range from 12.8 to 36.4 percent.
Three companies — EcoCeres Group, Jiaao Group and Zhuoyue Group — and their subsidiaries were listed by name in the summary, with each subject to duties of 12.8 percent, 36.4 percent and 25.4 percent respectively. The summary also identified 39 cooperating companies, each of which will be subject to duties of 36.4 percent.
Flags of the European Union and China are pictured during the China-EU summit at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, July 12, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Jason Lee/File Photo
EU Regulation 2016/1036, which protects EU countries against dumped imports, defined such an import as one in which “its export price to the Union is less than a comparable price for a like product, in the ordinary course of trade, as established for the exporting country.”
Allegations of biodiesel dumping by China were made in early November 2023 with a complaint lodged by the trade association European Biodiesel Board (EBB).
“We at EBB are resolute that the European biodiesel industry will not tolerate these kinds of highly damaging unfair trading practices, and we will not cease to fight to protect our biodiesel production from them,” said Dickon Posnett, president of EBB, in a December 2023 press release about the investigation.
The provisional measures will take effect no later than Aug. 16, and interested parties have until Sept. 2 to comment on them. The investigation is ongoing, with final definitive measures to be published no later than Feb. 14, 2025.
In a June letter to the European Commission, EBB Secretary General Xavier Noyon said that in 2023, EU imports of biodiesel were 1.8 million metric tons — 90 percent of China’s total exports of biodiesel. A Wall Street Journal story about the EU’s provisional duties cited Global Trade Tracker data that said 2023 saw EU imports of Chinese biofuel rise to about 1 million metric tons — an increase from about 550,000 metric tons in 2022.
An EBB press release posted in early July before the provisional duties were announced said that Chinese biodiesel was having a significant effect on the market in Europe. It said, for example, that Chevron Renewable Energy Group had furloughed German workers. A July 8 article by Zacks Equity Research published on Yahoo Finance said Chevron was furloughing workers at its Oeding, Germany, biodiesel plant due to an oversupply in the market. That story cited disruptions in the market caused by an influx in Chinese biodiesel as one reason for this.
The EBB release also noted that Shell had paused the construction of a biodiesel plant in the Netherlands. On July 2, Shell issued a press release saying its subsidiary, Shell Nederland Raffinaderij B.V., would pause construction of its biofuels facility in Rotterdam in part to “ensure future competitiveness given current market conditions.”
EBB expressed gratitude following the announcement of the duties.
“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,” Posnett said in a press release.
A search of trade defense investigations on the European Commission website revealed 27 anti-dumping investigations currently ongoing against China — the most against any country.
