Reuters reported that the company has cited the substantial price advantages that US producers have over those in Europe, and especially Germany, as the reason for its strategic move. Indeed, Campa CEO Moritz Gaede told Reuters that German biofuel producers are no longer competitive.
US producers are making biodiesel in order to gain tax credits, which are being offered to raise sales of the fuel product in the region. However, biodiesel can then be imported into the EU without duty tax under the label of organic chemicals.
Mr Gaede told Reuters that this simply allows US producers to sell to German consumers at a highly subsidized price – indeed the same price that German producers are paying for their raw materials.
The German biofuels market is the largest in the world, but, according to Reuters, the region’s biofuels industry association, VDB, has reported that much of this is being sourced from the US. The body has estimated that 200,000 tonnes of US biodiesel that had profited from the tax credits have entered Germany so far in 2007.
Petra Sprick, chief executive of VDB told Reuters, A US subsidy is simply being misused to sell biodiesel in Germany at prices we cannot compete with.
German biodiesel production is also suffering under new taxes being imposed by the German government, which have caused sales to drop. According to Reuters, the VDB plans to petition the EU to levy taxes against US imports as they are damaging market competition.
