The European Union plans to impose provisional anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese biodiesel, following findings that it is being sold at unfairly low prices.
In particular, the European Commission has proposed tariffs ranging from 12.8% to 36.4%, depending on the exporter. Specifically, tariffs are set at 12.8% for EcoCeres Group products, 36.4% for Jiaao Group products, and 25.4% for Zhuoyue Group exports, Reuters reports.
However, critics argue that without comprehensive changes to certification and verification processes, fraud will persist, and other countries may exploit the gaps left by these tariffs.
For instance, Cian Delaney, biofuels campaigner at T&E, stated: “Europe is completely overreliant on unverifiable used cooking oil from distant countries, like China. Restrictions on imports from China are a step in the right direction, however, anti-dumping tariffs alone won’t be enough to tackle UCO fraud. Without a complete overhaul of the certification process, the EU will continue to play out a game of whack-a-mole as fraudsters from other countries will simply fill the gap.“
According to T&E, over the past two years, the European biofuels market has been flooded with UCO imports from China, causing a collapse in the market price from around €2,250 per tonne to €1,100. A recent study by T&E showed that collection in China is as much as 30% cheaper than in Europe. Inherent problems with verification and certification mean that much of the UCO entering Europe may also be fraudulently labelled palm oil, a cheap feedstock heavily linked with deforestation.
The EU needs to stop incentivising unverifiable, imported waste oils and move away from an industry-led verification system towards more stringent regulation.
… said Cian Delaney
