U.S. imposes countervailing duties on biodiesel imports

The Commerce Department said it will begin to collect countervailing duties on imports of biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia based on findings that the two countries provide subsidies to these producers and exporters.    The U.S. Commerce Department will begin to collect countervailing duties on imports of biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia, the department said in a statement Thursday.
   Commerce determined that Argentina and Indonesia are providing unfair subsidies to its producers of biodiesel at rates from 71.45 to 72.28 percent and 34.45 to 64.73 percent, respectively.
   Specifically in its Argentina countervailing duty investigation, Commerce calculated subsidy rates of 72.28 percent for LDC Argentina S.A. and 71.45 percent for Vicentin S.A.I.C. Other Argentine producers and exporters of biodiesel were assessed a subsidy rate of 71.87 percent.
   In the Indonesia investigation, the department calculated subsidy rates of 34.45 percent for Wilmar International Ltd. and 64.73 percent for P.T. Musim Mas. Commerce determined a subsidy rate of 38.95 percent for all other Indonesian producers and exports.
   Countervailable subsidies are given by foreign governments to companies contingent on their export performance or use of domestic materials over imports. 
   Commerce estimated in 2016 that imports of biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia were valued at $1.2 billion and $268 million, respectively. Biodiesel is made from diverse mix of resources such as recycled cooking oil, soybean oil and animal fats.
   The petitioner is the National Biodiesel Fair Trade Coalition, an ad hoc association composed of the National Biodiesel Board and 15 domestic producers of biodiesel.
   “The biodiesel industry has been injured for the past several years due to unfairly traded imports from Argentina and Indonesia. We appreciate that these unfair subsidies are being addressed, so we can fix this particular obstacle to continued growth in the domestic industry,” said Doug Whitehead, chief operating officer of the National Biodiesel Board, in a statement.   
   Meanwhile, if the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) makes affirmative final injury determinations, Commerce will issue countervailing duty orders. If the ITC makes negative final determinations of injury, the investigations will end and no orders will be issued. The ITC is expected to make its final determination by Dec. 21.
   In a corresponding antidumping duty investigation, Commerce on Oct. 26 instructed Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to collect cash deposits from importers of Argentine and Indonesian biodiesel at dumping margins of 54.36 percent to 70.05 percent and 50.71 percent, respectively. Dumping occurs when a foreign company sells a product in the United States at less than fair value.