EBB: The Playing Field Still Isn’t Level
As I noted in my last blog entry before a short summer hiatus, it would only be a matter of time before attention turned from the U.S. to other biodiesel producers and exporters, namely Argentina and Brazil. It’s barely been a month and already the European Biodiesel Board is now “in dialogue” with the European Commission so that it can “react quickly” to evidence that U.S. and Argentinian producers and exporters are colluding so as to circumvent the recently imposed countervailing duties from the Commission. Canada has been thrown into the mix as well. Data from the International Trade Commission (ITC) through June 2009 suggests this is not the case. Nevertheless, EBB maintains that there is an incentive to produce biodiesel in Argentina and export it to Europe because of the incentives available there which serve to undercut European biodiesel producers.
Canadian producers are now being watched also with EBB noting an increase in exports, but note there is no longer a federal excise tax credit or other advantageous incentives being applied that would impact exports to Europe. The U.S. can export to Canada duty-free, which conceivably then re-export to Europe. There is some evidence this could be the case as through June ITC data puts exports to Canada at approximately 761,000 gallons - hardly enough to foster a trade case! What will it take to establish a level playing field for European producers, I still wonder?
Tags: Argentina, Biodiesel, Brazil, Canada, duties, EBB, European Biodiesel Board, exports, imports, International Trade Commission, ITC
