EU biodiesel production growth slows in 2007

25 June 2008 15:59  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--The growth in biodiesel production slowed in 2007 due to negative market conditions and the difficulty of producers to compete with US 'splash and dash' imports, the European Biodiesel Board (EBB) said in an annual report on Wednesday.

 

EBB said production increased to 5.7m tonnes in 2007 from 4.9m tonnes in 2006, growing 16% compared with 54% and 65% in the previous two years.

 

“Biodiesel production has decreased in 6 of 26 Member States since 2006 and has stagnated in many other countries, completely in contradiction with EU objectives,” said the report.

 

"This highlights the negative change in market conditions in 2007, showing the difficulty for EU producers to compete with unfair B99 imports from the US," it added.

 

Despite the installed plant capacity increasing by 55% in 2007 to 16m tonnes in 2008, EBB said that 3m tonnes remained idle due to the lack of a viable market in the member states.

 

EBB said biodiesel accounted for 76% of the biofuels consumed in the EU in 2007, while Europe was the world’s largest producer and consumer of biodiesel.

 

EU biodiesel production (000’s tonnes)

 

Country

2007 Estimate

2006 Estimate

Austria

267

123

Belgium

166

25

Bulgaria

9

4

Cyprus

1

1

Czech Republic

61

107

Denmark

85

80

Estonia

0

1

Finland

39

0

France

872

743

Germany

2,890

2,662

Greece

100

42

Hungary

7

0

Ireland

3

4

Italy

363

447

Latvia

9

7

Lithuania

26

10

Malta

1

2

Netherlands

85

18

Poland

80

116

Portugal

175

91

Romania

36

10

Slovakia

46

82

Slovenia

11

11

Spain

168

99

Sweden

63

13

UK

150

192

Total

5,713

4,890

 

Source: EBB (+/- 5% margin of error)


By: Mark Watts
+44 20 8652 3214



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