The International Trade Commission held a public hearing in Washington yesterday to hear from biodiesel producers hurt by subsidized biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia.
“We’ve got a group of members and unfortunately some biodiesel producers who had to close plants this year,” said Kaleb Little with the National Biodiesel Board during an interview at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting meeting in Kansas City this week.
The Commerce Department has issued a final determination in the case brought by the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) Fair Trade Coalition regarding subsidized biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia and will update the cash deposit rates that importers of Argentinian and Indonesian biodiesel must pay on biodiesel imported from those countries. The cash deposit rates range from 71.45 to 72.28 percent for biodiesel from Argentina, and 34.45 to 64.73 percent for biodiesel from Indonesia.
Little says there are actually two cases moving forward together, anti-dumping and countervailing duties. “One says the home country is giving an unfair subsidy and the other is that they are dumping at below cost,” he said.
To be successful in securing relief, they had to file with both the Commerce Department and the ITC, since Commerce determines whether the imports are subsidized and/or dumped, while the ITC determines whether the domestic industry has been injured by reason of such unfairly traded imports.
Little talks about this issue, in addition to what the biodiesel industry is hoping to hear from the EPA later this month on the final volume obligations for next year under the RFS. Interview with Kaleb Little, NBB
