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Argentina exported just 40,000 mt of biodiesel in February, versus 214,000 mt in January as fears over potential EU duties deterred flows, the latest statistics from Argentina’s Ministry of Energy showed.
The sharp rise in Argentine soybean prices may make soy methyl ester (SME) and biodiesel more expensive in the EU, but higher prices are unlikely to be enough to materially affect demand for these imports that benefit from low export taxes and the recent removal of EU antidumping duties.
Argentina produced 80,632 cubic metres of bioethanol in January, down 3,713 cu m or 4.4% versus the equivalent month in 2017, according to data from the Ministry of Energy.
Argentine biofuels exports are expected to fall nearly 60% this year to approximately 500,000 mt, Gustavo Idigoras, a consultant with Argentine biofuels lobby Carbio, told Energy Census this week.
Commodities producer and trader Bunge is to cut production at its 120,000 mt/year capacity biodiesel plant in Mannheim, Germany in response to a flood of imports, the company confirmed in an email.
A Germany-based biodiesel plant owned by US agribusiness conglomerate ADM has been mothballed in the wake of weak prices and a flood of cheap imports from Argentina and Indonesia, which are no longer subject to EU import duties.
The EU’s removal of duties on biodiesel imports placed on 13 Argentine and Indonesian producers following the end of legal proceedings at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) will only be temporary, said a consultant with an Argentinian biofuels lobby Carbio.
Argentina’s decision to extend the exemption on biodiesel duties could open up new markets for domestic output, according to a consultant with Argentine biofuels chamber Carbio, told Agricensus.
Trade flows and crushing volumes in the EU will be transformed if the bloc follows through on a European Parliament vote in January to exclude palm oil from the bloc's recast of its renewable energy directive, a research note from Rabobank outlined this week.
The US Commerce Department has increased what were already punitive anti-dumping duties on biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia, effectively blocking off palm and soybean derived fuels from entering the US market.
The EU Commission is to launch an investigation whether producers of Argentinian biofuels – predominantly soy methyl ester (SME) – have benefitted from subsidies, according to a log in the EU Official Journal, a move that could lead to higher tariffs on imports.
Lobbyists are gearing up for a fresh round of talks between EU member states on the share of crop-based biofuels in transport that should be used between 2020 and 2030, with the focus broadening from the EU Parliament to the EU Council.
The US Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday that refiners will have to blend slightly more biofuels in their transport fuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard for the next two years - a move that was hailed as a victory for the biofuel industry.
The final committee vote on the EU’s controversial amendments to the Renewable Energy Directive has proposed hiking up the bloc’s renewable energy target and imposing a separate biofuel blend target.
Argentine exports of biofuels have fallen 30% in the third quarter of 2017 versus the year before, selling just 353,034 mt in July through September versus 507,260 mt in the same corresponding period.
The US has slapped an import duty of 71-72% on imports of Argentine biofuel, according to a statement published by the US Department of Commerce, in a move that could trigger a WTO appeal and shut out Argentinian SME from the US market.
Argentinian exports of SME and Indonesian exports of PME to the US could be looking for another home soon after the US Commerce Department set preliminary import duties of up to 70% on Argentine biodiesel and 50% on Indonesian product.