Brazil’s vegetable oil industry association on Friday criticized a recent decision that will expand the import of biodiesel.
The National Oil Agency (ANP) approved a resolution on Thursday allowing the use of imported biodiesel in the mandatory blend with diesel oil of fossil origin. This modifies a 2019 regulation that restricts the sale of imported biodiesel for the buyer’s own consumption or for experimental use authorized by the ANP.
In Brazil, biodiesel is used for mandatory blending with diesel oil, currently at a rate of 12 percent.
According to the new ANP resolution, the volume of biodiesel imported by each fuel distributor will be limited to 20 percent of the total volume for mandatory blending.
The Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (Abiove) said in a press statement that the ANP decision was a “mistake” and that it “goes against” a national policy of biodiesel production created by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva himself during his first term in office (2003-2006).
According to Abiove, the grounds for the policy “will not be met by the imported product that will arrive in Brazil through export subsidies, without integration with family farming or deforestation controls.”
The Lula administration’s trade policy has not been consistent in opening up to imports. Last month, for example, Lula signed a decree eliminating tax breaks for milk importers, the latest step in an effort to help struggling Brazilian farmers against competition from South American neighbors.
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