EU boosts tariffs to block low-cost US ethanol

In Belgium, the European Union’s Customs Code Committee has agreed to raise import taxes on high ethanol blends from E70-E100 to $140/cu m up from the current 6.5% tax that is currently running at $44.4 /cu m with a third of the EU’s member states voting in favor, a third against, and the remaining abstaining. The new regulation is expected to come into force before December.

The new rule comes as a way to counteract cheap E90 imports coming from the US that have averaged about 80,000 cu m per month at a discount of up to $84 /cu m to domestically produced ethanol.