Dumping Complaint Could Kill Argentine Biodiesel Exports, Groups Says
by Maximiliano Rizzi (Reuters) Argentina’s biodiesel exports could be devastated if the U.S. government imposed anti-dumping duties on the coutrtry based on a complaint by the U.S. National Biodiesel Board, the heads of two local industry chambers said.
The board last week asked the U.S. government to impose anti-dumping duties on imports of biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia after two years of tension between U.S. and foreign producers over soaring imports.
“If a sanction is applied against Argentina in the U.S. market, our exports will no longer be viable. At this point, there is no alternative market,” Claudio Molina, executive director of the Argentine Biofuels Association said on Friday in an interview.
The United States is Argentina’s No.1 biodiesel export market and U.S. sanctions would hit large exporters such as Cargill, Bunge, Louis Dreyfus and COFCO Agri, part of China’s state-run COFCO Group
Argentine biodiesel exports to its previous No. 1 client, the European Union, were suspended due to complaints and counter claims pending before the World Trade Organization. Peru, another buyer of Argentine biodiesel, has also placed tariffs on Argentine biodiesel based on dumping complaints.
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The WTO ruled last year in favor of several claims by Argentina against anti-dumping duties imposed by the European Union but the adjudication continues and the duties remain. READ MORE
