Countervailing Duties: Level Playing Field for EU Biodiesel Producers?
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009As we reported to our members several weeks ago, today the European Union extended for five years countervailing duties on U.S. biodiesel imports that it initially set in March principally affecting larger companies such as Cargill and ADM. The European Biodiesel Board told Reuters the new import fees would help re-establish a level playing field for European producers, claiming unfair U.S. competition has already caused some companies to go bankrupt or to quit biodiesel production. I wonder about this…what happens when Europe begins to see imports from Argentina and Brazil? Argentina’s biodiesel plants, idle since late last year, have recently started up again. There goes the level playing field.
