Antidumping ruling places more duties on US biodiesel imports

The National Biodiesel Board Fair Trade Coalition won a preliminary antidumping determination from the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding dumped biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia. The commerce department found that biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia are sold into the U.S. below fair value, and it imposed preliminary duties on imports from these countries based on the amount of dumping found.

“It is reassuring with each decision that the commerce department is reviewing the data and facts at face value,” said Doug Whitehead, chief operating officer for the NBB. “The law is clear, and violations of trade law shouldn’t be ignored at the expense of the livelihoods of thousands of Americans employed or affected by biodiesel.”

As a result of the commerce department’s ruling, importers of Argentinian and Indonesian biodiesel will be required to pay cash deposits on biodiesel imported from those countries. The cash deposit rates range from 54.36 to 70.05 percent for biodiesel from Argentina, and 50.71 percent for biodiesel from Indonesia, depending on the particular foreign producer or exporter involved. Cash deposit requirements will be imposed when this preliminary determination is published in the Federal Register sometime next week. The duty deposit requirements are in addition to the deposits required pursuant to the commerce department’s preliminary countervailing duty determination in August, which confirmed that biodiesel producers in Argentina and Indonesia have received massive subsidies.

The NBB Fair Trade Coalition filed these petitions to address a flood of subsidized and dumped imports from Argentina and Indonesia that has resulted in market share losses and depressed prices for domestic producers. Biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia surged by 464 percent from 2014 to 2016, taking 18.3 percentage points of market share from U.S. manufacturers. Imports of biodiesel from Argentina again jumped 144.5 percent following the filing of the petitions. These surging, low-priced imports prevented producers from earning adequate returns on their substantial investments and caused U.S. producers to pull back on further investments to serve a growing market.

Between the preliminary and final antidumping determinations, the commerce department will audit the foreign producers to confirm the accuracy of their data submissions. Parties will file briefs on issues arising from the agency’s preliminary antidumping duty determinations, and the commerce department will hold a hearing, with a final antidumping determination due early next year. A final determination by the commerce department in the companion countervailing duty determination is due to be announced in early November, with a final determination by the U.S. International Trade Commission connection with the countervailing duty case expected in December.

Download the fact sheet from the commerce department here.

Made from an increasingly diverse mix of resources such as recycled cooking oil, soybean oil and animal fats, biodiesel is a renewable, clean-burning diesel replacement that can be used in existing diesel engines without modification. It is the nation’s first domestically produced, commercially available advanced biofuel. The NBB is the U.S. trade association representing the biodiesel and renewable diesel industries, including producers, feedstock suppliers and fuel distributors.