In Oct. 2023, the European Biodiesel Board (EBB) filed an anti-dumping complaint with the European Commission. The investigation was launched in Dec. of same year. On July 19, 2024, the European Commission proposed a temporary tariff of 12.8% to 36.4% on Chinese biodiesel exported to the EU, which will be implemented in mid-August 2024.
Market background of the anti-dumping
The investigation will run until February 2025, when final anti-dumping duties will be determined for a period of five years.
Judging from the disclosed situation, used cooking oil (UCO) and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) are temporarily out of the scope of anti-dumping. However, the European Commission has declared its continued commitment to restoring a level playing field in the European Union and will urge SAF’s joining into the scope.
At present, although the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from China is excluded from the provisional anti-dumping duties, it may still face anti-dumping measures in the EU in the future. Chinese companies must take precautions for it.
Biodiesel is a biofuel comes from vegetable oil or animal fat, also known as a green new energy, divided into the 1st generation of biodiesel (ester base) and the 2nd generation of biodiesel (hydrocarbon base). Currently, the ester base is the mainstream product in China, and the hydrocarbon base represents the future trend. In 2023, China’s biodiesel production capacity was 3.7 billion liters per year, production amount was 3.3 billion liters, consumption was 850 million liters, and utilization rate of production capacity reached 89.2%.
Data shows that in 2023, global biodiesel consumption grew to 46.31 million tons. From the perspective of consumption, the world’s largest biodiesel consumption region is the European Union, accounting for 34.65% of the global total. The followings are United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Thailand, Argentina, and China, accounting for 20.72%, 17.32%, 12.31%, 3.61%, 1.13%, and 1.06% respectively.
According to the European Biodiesel Board (EBB), Chinese companies exported about 1.8 million tons of biodiesel to the EU in 2023, accounting for 90% of China’s total exports. Currently EU’s more than 80% of biofuel raw materials relies on importing, and China accounts for 60% of that. This data shows the extent of the penetration of Chinese biodiesel in the EU market and its importance to the EU’s energy structure.
The impact of the EU’s anti-dumping measures on China’s biodiesel exporting enterprises
In response to the EU’s anti-dumping policy on biodiesel, He Yongqian, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, said the EU issued a preliminary ruling on the anti-dumping investigation of biodiesel against China on July 19. And they intend to impose temporary anti-dumping duties on biodiesel imported from China. China is highly concerned about the EU’s protectionist behavior in the biodiesel industry. China has always advocated the rational and prudent use of trade remedy measures. And they urge the EU not to rashly adopt trade protectionist measures but to resolve mutual concerns with China. The EU is the world’s largest consumer of biodiesel. And the import quite a lot of biodiesel from China to meet the huge consumer demand. On the other hand, it helps accelerate its own green transformation goals. China has repeatedly stressed that the EU’s tax measures will only raise the cost of relevant products, harm the interests of EU industries. Moreover, it will also undermine the EU’s green transformation process and the overall situation of China-EU economic and trade cooperation.