EU biodiesel industry to rely on local feedstock

By Anna Mudeva

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The European biodiesel industry body forecast on Tuesday that most of European Union biodiesel needs would be covered with domestically grown raw materials by 2020, with just 20 percent coming from imports.

Raffaello Garofalo, secretary-general of the European Biodiesel Board (EBB), told Reuters Global Biofuel Summit that EU biodiesel production would increase to about 24-26 million tonnes a year by 2020 to meet a new EU biofuel target.

As part of a wide-ranging policy to fight climate change announced last week, the European Commission, EU's executive, proposed a binding target of 10 percent for biofuels -- biodiesel and ethanol -- of total vehicle fuel by 2020.

The EU currently has a non-binding target of 5.75 percent for biofuels -- produced from grains, sugars and edible oils -- by 2010.

"The new target will launch a very positive dynamic in all 27 member states as all of them will have to develop biofuel markets," Garofalo said.

The EBB initially said it was disappointed with the target because EU drafts had put the number at 14 percent but later changed its mind and welcomed the policy.

Garofalo said that to meet the target, the EU biodiesel industry would have to raise production by 15 percent each year, which he added could be achieved relaying mainly on domestically grown rapeseed and sunflowerseed oil.

"I'm quite confident in the fact that Europe has potential. We don't have to underestimate the potential of new member states (Bulgaria and Romania who joined in January) to fulfil the target," he said.  Continued...