Just as the U.S. Commerce Department launches an anti-dumping investigation looking into biodiesel imported from Argentina and Malaysia, Brazilian producers are pleading for higher blends from their government.

Yes, if you’ve ever sat in any Argentine kitchen, the last thing you will be served is soybean oil. You’ll get olive oil for that salad. Or the cake you are trying will have been made with corn oil or canola oil. Argentines are big soy producers but birdlike in the consumption of soy as they have looked for years to find a way to export all that oil. 

Biodiesel blessing
In that regard soy-based biodiesel was seen as a blessing. A great way to add value and export a product they don’t much like. They were selling a lot of biodiesel to the EU, until recently.

In fact, Argentina exported a reported 1.5 million metric tons of the alternative fuel to the EU per year—and raking in up to an estimated $1.6 billion—until Europe accused it of dumping and slammed the door on that huge market. The WTO later ruled in favor of the South American country, saying it wasn’t guilty of breaking trade rules. But that ruling came only after Argentina lost much of that market as a result of the sanctions that Europe applied. 

Hey, hey! USA!
But the Argentines soon found the U.S. was a great market to replace the exports lost to the EU. There are reports of up to $1.2 billion in Argentine biodiesel exports to the U.S. yearly.

Related:Commerce Department initiates investigation of biodiesel imports

The Brazilians, on the other hand, don’t have such a distaste for oil from the legume. They eat plenty around the table and also have their own biodiesel program that requires every filling station selling diesel to ensure that product is at least an 8% blend of the renewable stock. While Brazilian government employees in cubicles in Brasilia will assure you they’re doing everything to make sure that biodiesel feedstock is more and more non-edible oils that you don’t need a tractor to harvest, like castor beans and other crops, soy is still used in something like 90% of all Brazilian diesel.

Up the blend
But no matter its source, Brazilian biodiesel blends are currently at 8%, and the industry recently bumped heads with the Brazilian administration to increase that to 9% ahead of schedule. The move to 9% isn’t slated to take place until 2018.

The industry needs it because Brazil’s economy is currently in the tank and that means fewer gallons of diesel are being used to haul consumer goods as people are spending less. The biodiesel sector needs some help and needs it now.

Related:National Biodiesel Board files countervailing duty petition

The opinions of the author are not necessarily those of Farm Futures or Penton Agriculture.