EU to impose tariffs on US biodiesel Decision comes in response to US subsidies, which have helped exponential growth in exports to Europe.

The European Union will impose tariffs on US biodiesel exporters for an initial period of six months following a decision on 3 March by an EU anti-dumping committee made up experts from the EU's member states.

The tariffs, which will range from €29 to €41 per 100 kilogramme, come as a response to subsidies of $1 per gallon that the US government gives its domestic biodiesel industry. The subsidy helped increase US biodiesel exports to Europe from 60,000 tonnes in 2006 to more than 1.5 millions tonnes in 2009.

The European Commission’s formal decision on the tariffs is likely to be published on 12 March and will come into force the following day. It can be extended up to five years.

Raffaello Garofalo, the secretary-general of the European Biodiesel Board, welcomed the decision. “It will ensure a level playing-field, which we have long worked for. It will be an end to a completely artificial situation where American biodiesel products have been dumped on the European market,” Garofalo said, adding that 15 European producers have declared bankruptcy in the past two years and up to 50 further companies are operating far below capacity.

The American Chamber of Commerce said it was following "this case closely", but added that "generally speaking, the distortion of markets caused by tariffs and subsidies in the agricultural sector is problematic" and that it wanted "EU-US co-operation to promote open, undistorted markets".