German biodiesel group faults ministry tax data

24 October 2007 17:21  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--Germany's biodiesel industry association said on Wednesday an upcoming report by the country's federal finance ministry on biodiesel taxation and incentives was based on faulty data and needed to be corrected as it was used to back up next year's Euro 6 cents/litre tax hike on biodiesel.

 

The ministry, in its calculations, assumed that biodiesel producers were able to process both soybean and rapeseed feedstock, Verband der Deutschen Biokraftstoffindustrie (VDB) said.

 

However, among the 48 biodiesel plants in Germany only one plant was capable of doing this, VDB said.

 

Also, contrary to the report's findings, the biodiesel plants were not benefiting from byproduct revenues.

 

In addition, the ministry had based its findings on a rapeseed oil price of 60.1 cents/litre.

 

This was much too low, VDB said, adding that prices averaged 76.32 cents/litre in August and were expected to continue at that level going forward.

 

VDB head Petra Sprick said the tax hike had been announced even before completion of the report. This may indicate that its findings were being “adapted” to meet political priorities, she said.

 

Sprick reiterated VDB's call for a suspension of the tax hike.

 

A spokesman for the ministry told ICIS news the decision to increase the tax had been made.

 

He declined to comment on VDB’s demands of which he was not yet aware, he said.

 

“Anything they [VDB] may have said would be based on a draft as the report has not yet been completed,” the spokesman said, adding it was expected to be issued soon.

By: Stefan Baumgarten
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