The European Union will not impose sanctions on Argentine biodiesel: a 1,000 million USD market is reopened

The European Union Committee on Trade Practices approved by majority of the decisions of the European Commission authorize imports of biodiesel from Argentina European Union on terms agreed upon by the parties.

European countries they ratified the decision conclude the negotiations and implement the price and volume agreement in February in order to allow the Argentine exports resume by April at the latest.

The countries of the European Union rejected a proposal to impose anti-subsidy tariffs Argentina's biodiesel imports, which they consider an exemption for producers who accept a minimum sale price.

By a declaration, the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated that the formalized determination in Brussels was due to working together with the Argentine private sector, represented CARBIO (Argentine Chamber of Biofuels), which made a presentation to their European counterparts.

"In January 2018, after winning in 2016 a controversy against the EU in the World organization of commerce (WTO) for anti-dumping measures affecting Argentine biodiesel exports, the European Commission has opened a new investigation into alleged subsidies. In this context, last December, he recommended impose countervailing duties on Argentine exporters which was between 25% and 33.4%, closing the market for our biodiesel sales to Europe, "said the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

"The approved commitment involves the maintaining a very important market Argentinean biodiesel, recovered from 2017 after Argentina's entry into the WTO, which allowed the sale of more than one million tons since then, for a value estimated at more than 900 million dollars, "he added.

In order to find a definitive solution to the trade dispute, CARBIO, with the help of the government, offered a commitment of prices and volumes to allow export recovery, which has been approved by the European Commission's Committee on Trade Practices.

The Secretary for International Economic Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Horacio Reyser, said that "from the government, we are accompanying the negotiation process that ends today successfully; the result is an example of team workboth for the engagement of the different portfolios of the national administration and for the positive interaction with the private sector. He added: "We hope this will have a positive impact on the entire soybean complex, as well as a new step to continue the agenda of the negotiations with the EU".

This agreement, which was obtained without appeal to the WTO Dispute Settlement Body, represents not only an advantage for the Argentine industry, but also for the European consumers with regard to a product with high added value closely related to the defense of the environment. In this respect, the will of the European authorities to reach this solution stands out.

The decision of the European Commission should be published in the Official Bulletin of the European Union in the coming days, with a view to its entry into force.

Like this, The European Commission's campaign on biodiesel has not prospered (EBB, promoted before the Commission and the EU Member States), in which said entity said that Argentina had distorted the export prices of its biodiesel by imposing a tax on Export higher soy and soy oil than on biodiesel.

The European market it had been reopened last August, after a technical shutdown of about four years, following the application by the European Commission of anti-dumping countervailing duties; these were reduced and later eliminated from an opinion of the WTO favorable to our country.