Argentina and the EU settle dispute over biodiesel imports

European oilseed producers are the losers, according to the Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Crops (UFOP).

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), according to UFOP. The association criticises 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.

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.

In this context, UFOP refers to the pending case against Indonesia. Perhaps the agreement concluded with Argentina is a blueprint for an analogous agreement with the Indonesian government. This would undermine the political decision of the European Parliament, which had argued in favour of a palm oil ban.

From UFOP's point of view, it is incomprehensible that the decision did not take into account the disappearance of the United Kingdom's consumption share due to Brexit, along with the share of biodiesel from waste oils and fats. In 2017, the consumption of biodiesel from these waste materials in Germany alone amounted to about 0.84 million tonnes or 38 percent of the total consumption of 2.21 million tonnes of biodiesel.