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German bioethanol firms call for import cuts
27th March, 2008
Cheap imports and high grain prices have pushed bioethanol production into a loss for many German plants
Petra Sprick, CEO of German biofuels industry association VDB, said cheap bioethanol imports, such as those from Brazil, are pushing German producers out of the market and that the imports have often been produced on farmland cleared of tropical rainforests.
'German biofuels production plants are being closed down because they cannot find customers for their products produced from sustainable agriculture, but the European oil industry is using questionable cheap imports to fulfill its blending quotas,' Sprick says.
Germany demands that oil companies blend 2% bioethanol content in fossil petrol at oil refineries.
'The European oil industry has decided to buy bioethanol in large volumes from Brazil. A couple of months ago this was not possible as we do have import tariffs but grain prices are now so high that bioethanol production in Germany is no longer competitive,' Sprick adds.
German bioethanol producer Verbio said on March 19 that cheap imports, especially from Brazil, and high grain prices had pushed its bioethanol production into a loss and that it had stopped production at a 200,000 tonne plant.
'We have seen in the past months and weeks the European oil industry making increased purchases from Brazil while our home production capacity is idle,' Sprick explains. 'We appeal to the European oil industry to stop cheap bioethanol imports from countries where its production creates massive destruction to nature.'
Germany produced approximately 310,000 tonnes of bioethanol in 2007, down from 340,000 in 2006. The European Union produces about 1.3 million tonnes a year.
