Detail

Argentina

Biofuels

Biodiesel

01/05/2018

Trade

Export policy

Raised, effective 1 July 2018, the export tax on (soybean oil-based) biodiesel from 8 percent to 15 percent, with a view to bringing the tax closer to the rate charged on exports of soybean oil (which, in May 2018, stood at 24.5 percent).

In May, the Argentine Government raised the export tax on (soybean oil-based) biodiesel from 8 percent to 15 percent, effective 1 July 2018. The upward adjustment was aimed at bringing the tax closer to the export duty for soybean oil, which, in May, stood at 24.5 percent. Past duty differentials were among the reasons that led the United States to impose countervailing and anti-dumping duties on biodiesel imports from Argentina and the EU to launch a new investigation on whether Argentine producers benefit from state subsidies (see MPPU May’18). The higher export duty is expected to make it more difficult to sell Argentine biodiesel to countries where blending occurs on a discretionary rather than mandatory basis. Regarding Argentina’s internal market, private sources reported that the Government is considering to raise the country’s mandatory biodiesel blending rate from currently 10 percent to 12 percent (and eventually 15 percent), in a bid to foster domestic consumption.