European Commission imposes definitive antidumping duties on Chinese biodiesel imports

The European Commission announced Feb. 11 that it has imposed antidumping duties on Chinese biodiesel imports.

The imposition of measures follows an antidumping investigation that revealed dumped biodiesel imports from China were harming the EU biodiesel industry, which faced unfair competition and possible plant closures.

The EU biodiesel market is worth 25-billion euros annually, according to the European Commission.

The governing body stated that the measures will help protect close to 6,000 EU jobs across more than 60 producers in 18 member states. 

On Jan. 8, EU member states approved the definitive duties on biodiesel and renewable diesel from China.

This followed provisional duties obtained in summer 2024.

Measures are imposed on biodiesel in pure form or as included in a blend, with aviation biofuels known as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) excluded.

Duties range from 10 percent to 35.6 percent, according to the European Commission, and supersede the provisional duties. 

The European Biodiesel Board noted that nearly all of the newly imposed duties range between 21.7 percent and 35.6 percent, except for EcoCeres, which received a 10 percent antidumping duty.

Around 50 companies in China are affected, according to Germany’s Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen e.V. (UFOP).

“Chinese companies are not only partly responsible for the price pressure in the EU market, but also for the suspected fraudulent imports, which in turn require stricter certification requirements and, in particular, a registration procedure for biofuel producers,” UFOP said.

EBB stated, “While the protection against Chinese dumping is not perfect, and there is still work to do to ensure the proper implementation of the duties and their efficiency, we are grateful to see acknowledged how China was harming the EU through unfair competition, and see clear action being taken. In the two-year process we saw workers furloughed, investments postponed and even plants close. We now hope to see a time of growth and investment in Europe.”

UFOP also welcomed the EU Commission’s rejection of the application by Chinese companies to exclude hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO), also known as renewable diesel, from the antidumping measures, adding that the association regrets that the import of SAF, which is produced using the same process as HVO, is excluded.

“UFOP shares the biofuel industry’s fears that this will leave a loophole and is therefore calling for strict declaration and proof of suitability as aviation fuel in accordance with the fuel specifications up to the storage tank of the distributor for blending with fossil paraffin,” UFOP stated. “Aviation fuels are naturally characterized by high filterability.”

Xavier Noyon, the EBB’s secretary general, said, “The duties and the guarantees they bring are good news for the European biodiesel industry, but we’re not out of the woods yet. Regretfully, SAF is not included in the scope of the duties, but the European Commission is clearly aware of this threat.”

Noyon explained that SAF imports from China “will be closely monitored thanks to a dedicated, ex-codes (10 digits) for SAF under 6 digits CN codes created for that purpose,” he said. “With the final regulation in place, the EU takes another step to protect its industry against unfair trade practices. The EBB will not shy away from further actions to ensure that the EU producers are protected from unfair trade practices and that we can deliver on the ambitions of the EU for climate-neutral transport.” 

To read the regulation, which was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, click here.

“From our point of view, this is worth reading because it explains in detail the individual subjects of negotiation as well as the statements of the respective sides in the context of these proceedings, including the question of biodiesel, HVO and SAF,” said Dieter Bockey with UFOP.

“The preferential treatment of imports from China due to the (supposed) use of waste-based raw materials and the better competitive position in the market due to the better GHG efficiency compared to biofuels from cultivated biomass, as well as the option of double-counting, therefore primarily describe the situation and how the German market is affected,” Bockey added. 

“It is to be expected, however, that other member states will also introduce a GHG-quota reduction obligation when RED III is transposed into national law—for example, Austria,” he said. “From this point of view, the antidumping measure will also come into force at the right time.”

In addition to these new measures on biodiesel from China, the EU has antidumping and countervailing duties in place on imports of biodiesel from other third countries, including the U.S.