TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The US government has decided to set anti-dumping duties on biodiesel imports from Indonesia and Argentina. The decision came after allegations of biodiesel dumping.
According to the Financial Times, America will impose 50-70 percent anti-dumping duties to biodiesel products from the two countries.
The US Commerce Department said they found evidences that Indonesia is selling biodiesel fuel in the US at prices below the market's.
The Indonesian government's subsidy program for biodiesel production allows the mix of palm-oil based fatty acid methyl ester. For this, the US is imposing a 50.71 percent duty.
America imports an estimated US$268 million worth of Indonesian biodiesel in 2016.
US biodiesel producers had complained about biodiesel dumping by Indonesian and Argentinean exporters. Through the National Biodiesel Agency, they petitioned the government earlier this year about imported products sold at prices below average—harming local biodiesel producers.
The petition was responded by the International Trade Commission who followed it up with an investigation.
The Indonesian Trade Ministry's director for international trade Oke Nurwan said the government will fight against the dumping allegation.
He said that since the US government launched the investigation, Indonesian biodiesel exporters have been threatened with a 28.1-percent import duty. The government, Oke said, will submit their version of the calculations to prove there is no dumping practice.
Previously, the president commissioner of Wilmar Nabati Indonesia Master Parulian Tumanggor ensured that the government did not impose dumping on biodiesel entrepreneurs. Producers, he said, are ready to reveal their data on the management of oil, including the cost of producing biodiesel.
KORAN TEMPO
