Brussels, 11/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - According to figures published by the European Bioethanol Fuel Association (eBIO) on 7 April, bioethanol production, after two years of strong growth (almost 70% year on year from 2004 to 2006), increased moderately in 2007. This can be explained to a large extent by high feedstock prices and the historically low prices of ethanol from third countries. With 13.5% growth compared with 2006, Community ethanol production rose to 1.77 billion litres in 2007. Production was highest in France, where it almost doubled (578 million litres, up from 293 million in 2006), Germany (394 million litres, compared with 431 million in 2006) and Spain (348 million litres, as against 396 million in 2006). In Sweden, production fell by 50% (70 million litres compared with 140 million in 2006. From nothing at all in Slovakia and the UK, production rose to 30 million and 20 million litres respectively. It doubled in the Czech Republic (from 15 to 33 million litres). Over the past two years, there has been no production in Finland. Currently, 13 of the 27 EU member states produce bioethanol. The Community bioethanol sector in 2007 was faced with very high cereal prices. Due to this, the share of raw materials in bioethanol production costs rose to a level that made production no longer profitable. Several companies decided to stop operating temporarily or to delay plans for extending their business. EU consumption of bioethanol in 2007 is estimated to be close to 2.7 billion litres. Fuel ethanol imports reached a record high in 2007 with an estimated volume of almost 1 billion litres. This equates to nearly 37% of total EU consumption. The imported ethanol came largely from Brazil and was consumed mainly in Sweden, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. (E.H.)