European Biodiesel Capacity Rising by 55% - 6/27/08

The European Biodiesel Board (EBB) recently announced the European Union (EU) should see its biodiesel production capacity increase by 55% this year reaching 16 million tons.

The EU has not matched the industry’s investment in biodiesel by not creating effective legislation and there has been limited market interest causing idle capacity.

Even with production increasing by 17% this year to 5.71 million tons that rate has lagged behind the increases from previous years.

Production in 2006 was 4.9 million tons and increased to 5.7 million tons in 2007 which is only a 16.8 yearly increase.  There was a 65% increase in 2006.

Biodiesel production has fallen since 2006 in 6 of the EU’s 27 member countries. 

Market changes in 2007 have been caused by the difficulty for EU biodiesel producers to compete with B99 imports from the U.S.

The U.S. subsidize for B99 biodiesel has made the imports cheaper causing EU trade officials to launch an investigation into whether imports of biodiesel from the U.S. were in breach of World Trade Organization rules. 

In 2007 biodiesel accounted for 76 % of the biofuel consumed in the EU.  The EU has a target of including 10 % of biofuels in transportation fuels by 2020.

Start making your own biodiesel fuel for only 70 cents a gallon! - Fuelmeister Biodiesel Processor

Find More BioDiesel Processors

Back To the BioDiesel Alternative Fuel Index