The National Biodiesel
Board Thursday filed an antidumping and countervailing duty petition,
making the case that Argentine and Indonesian companies are violating
trade laws by flooding the U.S. market with dumped and subsidized
biodiesel. The petition was filed with the U.S. Department of Commerce
and the U.S. International Trade Commission on behalf of the National
Biodiesel Board Fair Trade Coalition, which is made up of the National
Biodiesel Board and U.S. biodiesel producers. NBB leadership says the
“this is a simple case where companies in Argentina and Indonesia are
getting advantages that cheat U.S. trade laws and are counter to fair
competition.” Because of illegal trade activities, biodiesel imports
from Argentina and Indonesia surged by 464 percent from 2014 to 2016,
according to NBB. That growth has taken 18.3 percentage points of market
share from U.S. manufacturers. This is not the first time that
Argentine and Indonesian biodiesel producers have been charged with
violating international trade laws. In 2013, the European Union imposed
41.9 to 49.2 percent duties on Argentina and 8.8 to 23.3 percent duties
on Indonesia. Just last year, Peru imposed both antidumping and
countervailing duties on Argentine biodiesel.
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