In a letter sent on Thursday 11 July, Farm Europe, a think-tank dedicated to agricultural and food policies, called on the European Commission to act more quickly to protect the European biofuels sector from massive imports of raw materials and fraudulent biofuels.
“Over the past months, there has been a surge of fraudulent imports from China into the EU of feedstocks and biofuels falsely labelled as ‘Annex IX’”, Farm Europe deplored, referring to the annex to the Renewable Energy Directive which lists the raw materials authorised for the production of “advanced” biofuels, such as forestry waste, used cooking oil and certain animal fats (see EUROPE 13408/26).
Examples of fraud include mixing virgin palm oil (a restricted raw material) with used cooking oil, using virgin palm oil to produce biodiesel instead of used cooking oil, and the double certification of used cooking oil methyl ester by various voluntary schemes.
A major consequence for the EU market is the reduced consumption and production of sustainable biofuels. Rapeseed oil prices fell by more than 30% in the first five months of 2023, according to Farm Europe. Several plants have already stopped production, while others are operating below their normal output and are considering shutting down in the short term.
In its letter to the European Commission, the think tank also points out that 95% of China’s total biodiesel exports now go to the EU market (see EUROPE 13449/10).
The subject was previously raised at the Energy Council on 30 May, in a “working document” supported by Germany, France and the Netherlands (see EUROPE 13421/11) calling for measures to prevent fraudulent imports of biofuels produced from animal fats and used cooking oil from Asia.
Farm Europe is therefore calling on the European Commission to adopt the necessary measures, such as launching a dedicated task force to combat fraud, imposing sustainability certification on Chinese products and companies - similar to the requirements imposed on EU raw materials and products - and generalising physical inspections in factories.
To see the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/d0y (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)