EC proposes duties on imports of US biofuels

The planned anti-dumping duty seeks to protect Europe’s domestic bioethanol industry from low-priced imports by increasing the effective price of the imported ethanol. The duty - if adopted by the bloc’s 27 member states - would be applied across the board to all US producers of ethanol exporting to the EU.

The EC report found that the surge in low-priced imports from the US stalled the European Union’s bioethanol industry by decreasing profits and seriously affecting the industry’s ability to raise capital and attract investment. 

“Exporters from the US managed to increase their market share by systematically undercutting European Union industry’s prices,” the Commission proposal said.

From October 2010 to end-September 2011 - the official period during which the EC investigated the possibility of imposing duties - imports of US ethanol catapulted from a 1.9 % market share to 15.7 % of the EU market. Volume grew ten-fold to 686,185 tons. The United States is the single largest foreign source of ethanol for the EU. The only other substantial supplier is Brazil, but during the investigation period their market share in the EU shrank from 30.3 % to 4.5 %.

The European Commission has recommended that the European Council adopt the proposal for implementing these duties no later than 22 February 2013.

Read the entire article from the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) here.