UK’s Renewable Transport Fuel Association worry about decision to not take action against US HVO
Following an extensive investigation, the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) concluded that imports of US HVO were subsidised and had caused injury to the UK domestic biodiesel industry. The TRA recommended an anti-subsidy duty of approximately £260 per tonne to level the playing field.
Despite the TRA’s findings on subsidy and injury, and its recommendation that a trade remedy should be imposed, the Secretary of State, Jonathan Reynolds, has decided not to implement the measure, concluding it was not in the wider economic and public interest.
The RTFA believes the decision risks creating two serious long-term consequences for the United Kingdom.
First, it threatens the future of domestic biodiesel production and undermines the UK’s energy security and industrial resilience. These should be national priorities. The EU recognises this and already has measures in place to protect its domestic biofuel producers, and it is working on measures to further strengthen Europe’s energy security. Once strategically-important production capacity is lost, investment to rebuild it again is highly unlikely. Greater dependence on imported fuels leaves the UK more exposed to international markets, overseas policy decisions and disruption to global supply chains.
Second, this decision places further pressure on highly skilled, well-paid UK industrial employment. UK biodiesel plants support skilled manufacturing, engineering, technical, laboratory, logistics and operational roles, as well as employment throughout their domestic supply chains. These are precisely the kinds of productive industrial jobs that the UK needs to retain.
The RTFA is particularly concerned by the precedent created when the UK’s trade remedies system can establish both subsidisation and injury to a domestic industry, recommend a remedy, yet Government leaves that industry exposed to unfair competition. We ask the government to work with TRA and industry to assess whether the Economic Interest Test adequately considers the risk of losing domestic production capacity, investment and domestic supply chain resilience.
Ultimately, the RTFA is not seeking protection from legitimate international competition. What our members want is a level playing field where UK producers and overseas suppliers compete on fair and equivalent terms. Open competition can benefit the UK renewable fuels market, but that competition must not be distorted by overseas subsidies that place domestic manufacturers at a structural disadvantage.
Category: Policy
