WASHINGTON: The US Department of Commerce (DoC) last week launched antidumping and countervailing duty investigations of imports of biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia. The move is in response to a petition by the National Biodiesel Board and 15 domestic biodiesel producers. In 2016, the US imported almost 1.48 million tonnes of biodiesel from Argentina, valued at USD 1.2 billion (EUR 1.1bn). Imports from Indonesia were valued at USD 268 million.
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) is due to determine if there are indications of material injury to the US industry on or before May 8. In case of negative determinations, the probes will be terminated. Otherwise, they will continue and the DoC will be scheduled to announce its preliminary countervailing duty determinations in June and its preliminary antidumping duty decision in August. The alleged dumping margins are 26.54% and 28.11% for imports from Argentina and Indonesia, respectively.
