Brussels, 23/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - Buenos Aires wants to start a procedure at the WTO in Geneva against the EU's anti-dumping duties on Argentina's biodiesel exports.
On Tuesday 23 October, Argentina announced its intention to lodge a complaint with the WTO against the EU regarding the EU's anti-dumping duties on imports of Argentine biodiesel - duties approved the same day by the 28 EU member states. “The amount of injury that this protectionist measure will cause for an industry that was developing in an innovative and dynamic way allows no other option”, said Argentina's Ministry for Foreign Affairs in a press release (our translation).
On Tuesday, the Council approved the Commission's proposal to impose very heavy definitive anti-dumping duties on Argentine and Indonesian biodiesel imports into the EU. The duties planned for Argentine biodiesel, which are due to enter into force on 28 November, range from 22-25% - in other words, very high rates with regard to the provisional rates set up in May (8% on average).
Argentina and Indonesia have established a system of export tax which favours their biodiesel by applying a higher export tax for the raw materials - soya oil for Argentina and palm oil for Indonesia - than for processed products based on these raw materials.
Argentine and Indonesian biodiesel were also the targets of an anti-subsidy investigation. However, the Commission decided to put an end to this investigation after the plaintiff - the European Biodiesel Board (EBB), the association of European biodiesel producers - abandoned its action on 7 October, once it was sure of winning the imposition of anti-dumping duties.
Argentina is the world's top producer of biodiesel - ahead of Indonesia and Malaysia. Between 2010 and 2012, the Argentine and Indonesian biodiesel's European market share - which represents nearly 90% of total biodiesel imports into the EU - increased from 0% to nearly 30%.
The Argentine biodiesel industry denies any dumping and criticises the EU's protectionist measure. For the Carbio association, application of these duties jeopardises the sector and the whole soya industry in Argentina. The repercussions for the EU will be scarcely better: “The measures will make biodiesel prices at the pump increase between €0.03 and €0.05 per litre for European consumers”, said a spokesperson for the association in mid-October. The spokesperson also criticised the “hypocrisy” of the European anti-dumping measures, when German and French producers are supported by tax credits and other common agricultural policy (CAP) measures. The spokesperson warned of the risk that the exclusion of Argentine and Indonesian biodiesel from the European market might favour the emergence of a new competitor - Brazilian biodiesel. (EH/transl.fl)