Output of biodiesel in the European Union, the world's biggest producer of the green fuel, may stagnate or even fall this year due to an inefficient market policy, the European Biodiesel Board (EBB) said on Tuesday. The EU's biodiesel output jumped 54 percent to 4.89 million tonnes in 2006 from 3.18 million tonnes in 2005, as the bloc boosted efforts to combat climate change, the EBB said in a statement. This year, biodiesel production capacity rose to 10.29 million tonnes from 6.07 million tonnes in 2006, but there were risks that it would remain "very largely unemployed and production may start stagnating if not declining already as from this year 2007, if urgent action is not taken", it said.

The increased capacity -- with 185 fully operational plants and another 58 under construction -- has laid the basis for further output growth and for hitting the EU targets for the green fuel use set for 2010 at least two years in advance, EBB said. "However, in the EU, biodiesel is still strongly hindered by the lack of appropriate markets measures able to create a real market for biodiesel in member states," it said. EBB has called for Brussels and EU states to adopt laws necessary to create market conditions for biodiesel sales and not stop at introducing mandatory targets "with no practical impact" as was done in Italy, Spain, Poland and many other countries.

The biodiesel blend rate in EN 590 diesel should be quickly doubled to 10 percent and then raised to 15 percent if the EU was to meet the 10 percent target for biofuels share in total car fuel use set for 2020, the industry body said. Biodiesel output in Germany -- where the biggest in the EU industry was hit by taxes last year -- jumped to 2.66 million tonnes in 2006 from 1.67 million tonnes in 2005, EBB said.
(Planet Ark, 18/07/2007)