Argentina and the EU settle dispute over biodiesel imports

In Germany, according to the Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Crops, European oilseed producers are the losers due to the decision of the representatives of the EU Member States in the Trade Defence Instruments Committee (TDI) of 30th January 2019. The association criticizes the Committee’s approval of the Argentine Government’s proposal for a so-called “price undertaking” agreement, which will allow Argentina’s biodiesel producers to export around 1.2 million tonnes of biodiesel duty-free to the EU every year.

This amount of biodiesel accounts for 10% of total biodiesel consumption in the European Union. This market access is coupled with compliance with a minimum import price, which is to be calculated on the basis of monthly average soy bean oil prices. The concrete and legally binding calculation procedure will be announced in the EU Official Journal. UFOP fears that as a result of the procedure for setting the minimum import price, which is not yet known in detail, market access will be ensured through a price level which will have an overall negative effect on the EU biodiesel price and consequently on oilseed producer prices. Biodiesel quantities that exceed this import quota are subject to company-specific countervailing duties between 25 and 33.4 percent.