2023-06-02 13:51:31
For 2022, 500 thousand tons of Chinese biodiesel were imported into the EU, and only for the first 4 months of this year the import was 830,000 tons
Biodiesel from China , which may not meet EU sustainability requirements, has been entering the European domestic market in large quantities since the beginning of the year. German law enforcement authorities are investigating whether alleged “advanced biofuels” from China were incorrectly declared, reports German publication agrarheute.com.
The effects on the European market of canola are already being felt by farmers: rapeseed prices are under enormous pressure. Dubious Chinese biodiesel made from waste and residual oils is displacing EU goods that meet quality specifications.
Rapeseed prices in the EU have been collapsing for about a year. While a peak of over €750/t on the Matif futures exchange in Paris was reached in May 2022, the price fell below the €400/t threshold in May this year.
This is closely related to the expectation of a stable global market supply of canola from the upcoming harvest. The Union of Oil and Protein Producers (Ufop) also sees a share of the price pressure in imports of used oils and fats from China and the biodiesel they produce.
Cheap goods from China, the certification of which experts doubt, are reducing the oil industry’s need for biodiesel made from European canola oil.
According to Ufop, the EU imported about 500,000 tons of biodiesel from Chinese waste oil by the end of 2022. From January to April this year, the EU as a whole even imported 0.83 million tons of biodiesel from China, almost double the amount in the same period of last year.
However, according to Ufop, there are doubts about the necessary evidence of the origin of the raw materials. Biodiesel from the People’s Republic is declared as an “advanced” biofuel from waste and residues under Annex IX, Part A of the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED II).
As a result, the mineral oil industry is allowed to count the amount imported twice against its greenhouse gas quota obligation. The need for biodiesel produced from rapeseed oil is correspondingly reduced. This calls into question the credibility of the sustainability certificate required by the EU, criticizes Ufop.
Ufop is calling on the German federal government and the European Commission to take action. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen the control, according to the association.
The competent authority is the Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food (BLE). There are already indications that biofuels imported from China and certified as sustainable may have been produced from feedstocks other than those declared. Therefore, they would not be eligible for double counting as advanced fuels.
Investigations into suspected misdeclaration of biodiesel are ongoing
It is not yet clear how the EU will respond to the sudden increase in supposedly climate-neutral biodiesel imports from China.
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