(From Reuters) – European Union countries backed a proposal to impose anti-subsidy duties on Argentine biodiesel imports, with an exemption for producers that agree to a minimum price, a European Commission source said on Wednesday.
The Commission, which oversees trade policy in the 28-member EU, said earlier this month it had told interested parties that it was willing to accept price undertaking from Argentine producers, allowing them to escape extra duties.
The European Union’s 28 member states voted in favor of the measures at a meeting on Wednesday, the source said.
The scheme, with a minimum price option, would mirror that used to allow Chinese solar panel producers to export to the bloc after a major dispute over alleged dumping that threatened to spiral into a trade war.
For Argentine biodiesel, the Commission has proposed duties of between 25.0 and 33.4 percent depending on the companies, a document seen by Reuters in December showed. Exporters include the Argentine arms of Bunge Ltd, Cargill Inc and Louis Dreyfus Corp, as well as Molinos Rio de la Plata SA.
It imposed anti-dumping duties in 2013, but then had to remove most in March 2018 after successful challenges at the World Trade Organization and the European Court of Justice.
The Commission opened its current anti-subsidy investigation a year ago.
