Yesterday, the Spanish Renewable Energies Producers Association (APPA) protested against biodiesel imports from the US into Spain. They claim this imported fuel is subsidized by the US government combined with Spain's policy of not taxing biofuels, locally produced biodiesel cannot compete against the American one.
With both the subsidy and the tax exemption, US biodiesel is 0,20 EUR/l cheaper than the Spanish one. Since Spain has definitely approved a mandatory 5.75 percent of biodiesel (
B94.25
B5.75?) blended into regular diesel, and 70 percent of new cars don't run with gasoline, local producers were having good economical expectations.
The APPA has appealed both the Spanish and the EU commission for this "discriminatory" measure and are asking for protective measures such as import tariffs (which, in turn, becomes discriminatory against US fuel).
Well, this seems the start of yet another of the agricultural/food wars that both the US and the EU seem to have now and again, it raises a question: What's the balance of a "more ecological" fuel that has to be carried on tankers across the ocean? It might be profitable from an economic point of view, but chances are that the global balance is not that positive. And don't think that Spanish biofuel is made from Spanish-grown crops - the Spanish government announced agreements with countries such as Brazil to increase raw materials imports.
[Source: Europa Press via Econoticias]
Edited: Fixed biodiesel definition.
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