EU to investigate allegations of unfair Chinese biofuel trade

The European Commission has launched an investigation into allegations of dumping of biodiesel from China into markets in the European Union.

PHOTO: European Union Commission building in Brussels, Belgium. Getty Images

If the Commission confirms dumping of renewable fuel from China and finds that it is harming European producers, it may impose duties on imports, or other measures, it said.

The EU’s anti-dumping measures apply to fuel imports from countries it believes are artificially lowering biofuel costs to levels that domestic producers can not compete with. The EU earlier imposed such measures on biofuel imports from Argentina and Indonesia, which it argued had an unfair advantage because of access to raw materials at prices lower than in world markets.

The launch of the investigation into Chinese biodiesel imports was based on a complaint by EU-based biodiesel producers, the European Commission says.

“EU producers have submitted evidence of biodiesel imports from China coming into the EU at artificially low prices and claim that these imports are seriously harming their industry because they cannot compete with such low prices,” the Commission says.

By Debarati Bhattacharjee

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