China s Biodiesel Producers Seek New Outlets As Hefty EU Tariffs Bite

Aus Vokipedia
Wechseln zu: Navigation, Suche


By Chen Aizhu


SINGAPORE, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Chinese biodiesel manufacturers are looking for new outlets in Asia for their exports and exploring producing other biofuels as supply to the European Union, their biggest buyer, dries up ahead of anti-dumping tariffs, biofuel executives and experts stated.


The EU will impose provisionary anti-dumping tasks of between 12.8% and 36.4% on Chinese biodiesel from Friday, hitting over 40 companies consisting of leading manufacturers Zhejiang Jiaao, Henan Junheng and Longyan Zhuoyue Group in an export company that deserved $2.3 billion last year.


Some larger manufacturers are considering the marine fuel market in China and Singapore, the world's leading marine fuel hub, as they seek to offset already falling biodiesel exports to the EU, biofuel executives said.


Exports to the bloc have actually fallen sharply because mid-2023 in the middle of examinations. Volumes in the first six months of this year plunged 51% from a year earlier to 567,440 lots, Chinese customs data revealed.


June shipments shrank to just over 50,000 lots, the most affordable given that mid-2019, according to customs data.


At their peak, exports to the EU reached a record 1.8 million tons in 2023, representing 90% of all Chinese biodiesel exports that year. The Netherlands was the top importer in 2023, soaking in 84% of China's biodiesel deliveries to the EU, followed by Belgium and Spain, Chinese custom-mades figures revealed.


Chinese producers of biodiesel have in fat earnings in the last few years, maximizing the EU's green energy policy that gives aids to companies that are utilizing biodiesel as a sustainable transport fuel such as Repsol, Shell and Neste.


A lot of China's biodiesel manufacturers are privately-run small plants employing scores of workers processing waste oil collected from millions of Chinese restaurants. Before the biodiesel export boom, they were making lower-value items like soaps and processing leather products.


However, the boom was brief. The EU started in August in 2015 examining Indonesian biodiesel that was thought of preventing responsibilities by going through China and Britain, followed by a 14-month anti-dumping probe into Chinese biodiesel thought to be priced artificially low and damaging local manufacturers.


Anticipating the tariffs, traders stockpiled on used cooking oil (UCO), raising prices of the feedstock, while prices of biodiesel sank in view of diminishing demand for the Chinese supply.


"With substantial prices of UCO partly supported by strong U.S. and European demand, and free-falling item prices, business are having a difficult time enduring," stated Gary Shan, primary marketing officer of Henan Junheng.


Prices of hydrotreated grease, or HVO, a primary kind of biodiesel, have cut in half versus last year's average to the existing $1,200 to $1,300 per metric lot and are off a peak of $3,000 in 2022, Shan added.


With low costs, biodiesel plants have actually cut their operations to a lowest level of under 20% of existing capacity typically in July, below a peak of 50% last seen in early 2023, according to Chinese consultancies Sublime China Information and JLC.


Meanwhile, diminishing biodiesel sales are enhancing China's UCO exports, which experts forecast are set to touch a new high this year. UCO exports soared by two-thirds year-on-year in the very first half of 2024 to 1.41 million heaps, with the United States, Singapore and the Netherlands the top locations.


OUTLETS


While many smaller plants are likely to shutter production indefinitely, larger manufacturers like Zhejiang Jiaao, Leoking Enviro Group and Longyan Zhuoyue are exploring new outlets consisting of the marine fuel market in your home and in the important center of Singapore, which is using more biodiesel for ship fuel blending, according to the biofuel executives.


Among the producers, Longyan Zhuoyue, agreed in January with COSCO Shipping to use more biodiesel in marine fuel.


Companies would likewise accelerate planning and structure of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plants, executives stated. China is expected to reveal an SAF required before completion of 2024.


They have actually likewise been hunting for brand-new biodiesel customers outside the EU bloc, in Australia, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia where there are local requireds for the alternative fuel, the authorities included.


(Reporting by Chen Aizhu; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)

Meine Werkzeuge
Namensräume

Varianten
Aktionen
Navigation
Werkzeuge