EU to Set Anti-Dumping Tariffs on Chinese Biodiesel Following Investigation

A mural by Banksy depicting a workman chipping away at one of the stars on a European Union-themed flag, in Dover, south east England, on Jan. 7, 2019. Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images

The European Union is poised to impose provisional tariffs on biofuels from China after finding that the commodity was being dumped into European markets at unfair prices.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, announced in a July 19 pre-disclosure document that it will apply provisional anti-dumping duties on Chinese biodiesel at levels ranging between 12.8 percent and 36.4 percent.

Two Chinese companies operating as part of EcoCeres Group are set to have a 12.8 percent anti-dumping duty applied to their biodiesel imports into the EU, while three firms that are part of the Jiaao Group are expected to be hit with a 36.4 percent tariff, per the document.

“All exporting producers, for whom an individual calculation was done, will receive details of the calculation of their individual provisional anti-dumping duties,” reads the pre-disclosure document, which cites European anti-dumping regulations in making its tariff calculations.

The Epoch Times reached out to EcoCeres and Jiaao with a request for comment on the duties that they’re set to be saddled with, but neither replied by publication time.

The tariffs, due to be imposed in mid-August, stem from an anti-dumping complaint lodged with the European Commission by the European Biodiesel Board (EBB) in November 2023.

The EBB, an association of EU companies producing biodiesel, alleged in the complaint that a “massive flow” of Chinese biodiesel imports into the EU has been made possible by “severe unfair trade practices from Chinese exporters.”

The association noted that the volume of Chinese biodiesel imported into the EU nearly tripled to 1.65 million in 2023 from about 628,000 U.S. tons in 2019, making them the first source of biodiesel imports into the EU.

“Dumped biodiesel imports from China have rapidly gained significant market shares during the past years and have caused material injury to Union biodiesel industry,” EBB wrote in the complaint.

Besides alleging an overall dumping margin of 111 percent, EBB also accused the Chinese biodiesel exporters of fraudulent practices of mislabeling Chinese biodiesel to benefit from certain incentives.

The European Commission opened an investigation into whether imports of biodiesel originating in China were being dumped into the EU and thereby causing injury to its industry, leading to the provisional imposition of anti-dumping duties on the Chinese firms.

EBB praised the decision and stated that it would ask for automatic registration of imports during the pre-disclosure stage to give the EU biodiesel sector immediate relief before the duties go into effect.

“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,” Dickon Posnett, EBB president, said in a statement.

The association expressed disappointment that the European Commission’s decision to impose anti-dumping duties excluded dumped Chinese sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), noting that it intends to raise this issue with the commission to prevent the European SAF industry from being “seriously” damaged and the bloc from being reliant on China.

The European Commission’s decision did not mention any findings related to the EBB’s allegations of fraud.

“Our next step is to work with the EU to close loopholes that will otherwise undermine this good work, and also to work with Member States and the Commission to ensure any fraudulent practices are dealt with in the future by a more robust sustainability certification system,” Mr. Posnett said in his statement.

The Brussels-based industry group Trade and Environment (T&E) described the European Commission’s decision as a “step in the right direction” but warned that tariffs alone would not stop palm oil fraud.

The EU currently imports more than 80 percent of its used cooking oil biofuels, and T&E stated that the anti-dumping tariffs would help limit imports of “dubious” UCO biofuels from China.

“Europe is completely overreliant on unverifiable used cooking oil from distant countries, like China,” Cian Delaney, biofuels campaigner at T&E, said in a statement.

Problems with verification mean that much of the used cooking oil biofuel entering Europe may be fraudulently labeled palm oil, a cheap feedstock linked to deforestation.

“Without a complete overhaul of the certification process, the EU will continue to play out a game of whack-a-mole as fraudsters from other countries will simply fill the gap,” Mr. Delaney said.

T&E stated that over the past two years, the European biofuels market has been flooded with used cooking oil biofuel imports from China, causing a collapse in the market price to roughly $1,358 from about $2,777 per U.S. ton.