The European Biodiesel Board (EBB) has warned that it will take “appropriate” steps over what it claims is a surge of Argentinian biodiesel exports into the EU.

In a press release on 18 December, the EBB said Argentine biodiesel exports to the EU increased from less than 5,000 tonnes in July 2008 to almost 100,000 tonnes/month in July 2009.

“For 2009, Argentine exports are expected to overstep the one million tonne threshold,  compared to only 70,000 tonnes the previous year,” it said.

However, the Argentine Renewable Energies Chamber (CADER) has countered this claim, saying the EBB’s data was incorrect. It said Argentine biodiesel exports actually totalled just under one million tonnes in 2008  and exceeded 70,000 tonnes during at least seven months in 2008.

The EBB also said Argentina’s use of differentiated export taxes (DETs) created an artificial incentive for the production and export of finished biodiesel, rather than its raw material (soyabean oil).

Currently, the export tax on Argentine soyabeans is 35%; 32% for soyabean oil; and 20% for biodiesel.

However, CADER said DETs had been used since the industrial age to promote the creation of downstream industries producing processed, value-added goods by effectively reducing the cost of an industrial input. It said the WTO did not specifically prohibit DETs.

The EBB said it had reviewed all possible legal and political options including investigating possible dumping practices, as well as the compatibility of the DETs with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

It has asked Argentina to withdraw the DETs regime on soyabean products and biodiesel.

“We stand ready to defend our interests, as we already did successfully against subsidied imports from the United States,” said EBB secretary general Rafaello Garofalo.

At the end of November, the EBB said it would lodge a complaint with EU trade authorities over US evasion of biodiesel anti-dumping and countervailing measures, imposed in March 2009 on US ‘B99’ exports to the EU (see previous OFIs).

The EBB said that since these measures were imposed, there were strong indications that US subsidised biodiesel was continuing to enter the EU either via “triangular trade with third countries based on fraudulent declarations of origin, or through blends (at a B19 or lower level)”. It said it would proceed with the lodging of an anti-circumvention complaint to EU trade authorities.