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| Europe |
| EU nations slap duties on US biodiesel |
| 2009-07-28 |
| European Union nations decided Tuesday to impose anti-dumping duties on US biodiesel imports, which are suspected to be heavily subsidised, an EU diplomat said Tuesday. The proposal, by the European Commission, was adopted by the 27-country bloc's finance ministers at a meeting in Brussels, the diplomat said, on condition of anonymity. The duties, to come into force by July 12, range from 23 euros (32 dollars) to 41 euros per 100 kilogrammes (160 pounds) and would last for up to five years. The stakes are high as biodiesel represents around 80 percent of the total production in Europe of biofuels, which have become an important pillar of the EU's efforts to fight global warming. US biodiesel accounts for most of this fuel imported into the EU. The commission launched an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probe into US biofuels in June 2008 after industry lobby the European Biodiesel Board (EBB) complained the EU market was being flooded with heavily subsidised US imports. While both the United States and the EU support the use of biofuels, the group claims that US biodiesel is being sold at below US producers' costs thanks to generous subsidies. It estimated in January that US exports of a particular biodiesel blend known as B99 had surged by 40 percent in 2008 compared to 2007, which it said was threatening the viability of European producers. |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #6 Right, Europeans wouldn't want to rely on a fuel supply from a potentially undependable partner ... oh, wait ... |
| Posted by: DMFD 2009-07-28 19:38 |
| #5 logi-cal - trust me, you don't want us moving towards a situation where everything which isn't authorized is illegal. Subsidies are asinine, for reasons such as this. Trying to legislate your unintended consequences merely piles tyranny & additional theft on top of idiocy, incompetence, ideology, and theft. Repeal the subsidy, don't try and prosecute the clever for exploiting your mistakes. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2009-07-28 18:21 |
| #4 Has anyone thought to ask why it is legal to export a product subsidized for domestic production & consumption? Clarified, export a subsidized product for Profit?? Must have been the language in the last 1000-page bill that wasn't read... |
| Posted by: logi_cal 2009-07-28 10:44 |
| #3 > So the EU stops US taxpayers subsidizing European consumers. I don't kn ow who's more daft, the United States of Corporatism for using taxpayers money to waste on biofuel, or the EUSSR for stopping them. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-07-28 07:29 |
| #2 So the EU stops US taxpayers subsidizing European consumers. Beyond lunacy. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2009-07-28 03:45 |
| #1 Some things are more important than global warming. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-07-28 03:00 |