Palm | Kelapa Sawit

A European official said that the European Commission is proposing to place multi-year duties on bio-diesel shipped from the US to offset a subsidy the US government gives to bio-diesel producers, Dow Jones reports. The proposal will extend temporary duties the European Union imposed in March on US bio-diesel. Final duties imposed by the EU typically last for five years.

The Commission is proposing changes to the bio-diesel duties: US agriculture giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) will face a duty of EUR359 per mt of bio-diesel, up from the temporary duty announced in March of EUR261/mt, the European official said.

ADM's rival Cargill will have to pay EUR213.80/mt, down from the duty announced in March of EUR275/mt. Imperium Renewables will have to pay EUR293/mt. Green Earth Fuels will pay EUR284/mt, and World Energy Alternatives EUR294/mt, according to the proposal. Fifty-three companies that cooperated with the EU's investigation will have to pay EUR335/mt, including Louis Dreyfus Agricultural Industries, Vitol Inc, and US Biofuels Inc. Peter Cremer North America LP and all other companies will have to pay EUR409/mt, down slightly from the temporary duty of EUR419/mt. The duties must be approved by EU governments at the European Council.

Biofuels Journal highlights the EU’s Biocoup programme which aims to develop a chain of process steps that would effectively allow biomass feedstock to be co-fed to a conventional oil refinery with energy and oxygenated chemicals as co-products and is currently working on a laboratory scale.

Supported by the European Commission through the Sixth Framework Programme for Research and Development with a grant up to 7.6 million euros, Biocoup began in 2006 and will run until 2011. The EU says Biocoup and other projects are necessary because the EU and member states have agreed on the need to increase the amount of bio-fuels for transportation to both reduce CO2 emissions, and to develop a European bio-fuel industry to reduce dependency on imported fuels. (20 May 2009)