German trade association says ethanol industry needs protection against Brazilian ethanol

In Germany, the CEO of the VDB, a biofuel trade association, has called on the German government to prevent cheap Brazilian ethanol from entering the German market, saying that German firms could not compete and that their existence was threatened. Germany mandates an E2 blend in all gasoline, but grain prices have made German ethanol uncompetitive with Brazil’s sugarcane-based product. According to the Guardian, Germany produced 310,000 tonnes of bioethanol last year, down 10 percent from 2006.

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