EU Implementing Regulation 2025/261: definitive anti-dumping duties on Chinese biodiesel (HVO and FAME)

Mechanism

The measure is the definitive stage of a standard EU anti-dumping investigation under Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 (the EU AD Basic Regulation). The Commission initiated the investigation in 2023 following a complaint by the European Biodiesel Board (EBB) representing EU FAME and HVO producers. The investigation determined that Chinese exporters were selling biodiesel into the EU market at prices substantially below their constructed normal value (cost of production + SGA + profit in China), causing material injury to EU industry.

Three groups of Chinese producers/exporters were individually examined:

These rates are applied on top of the standard EU MFN customs duty (6.5% for most CN codes under Chapter 38/15/27). Total effective duty for non-cooperating Chinese exporters is therefore ~42%.

Market context and RED III linkage

Chinese biodiesel exports to the EU grew sharply in 2022-2023 as EU demand for advanced biofuels surged under the Renewable Energy Directive II (RED II) sub-targets for advanced/waste-based biofuels. The primary feedstock for Chinese HVO/FAME exports is used cooking oil (UCO) — a waste-based feedstock that qualifies for the RED II "double-counting" credit, making Chinese UCO-derived biodiesel attractive for EU fuel blenders trying to meet compliance targets.

RED III (Regulation 2023/2413), which entered force in November 2023 and raised advanced biofuel sub-targets, created additional compliance demand that Chinese exporters were well-positioned to supply. The AD measure directly interrupts this pathway by raising the landed cost of Chinese HVO/FAME to levels that reduce competitiveness against EU-produced advanced biofuels.

SAF carve-out and import-registration

The exclusion of SAF from the AD scope reflects the Commission's recognition that Sustainable Aviation Fuel supply chains are structurally distinct from road-transport biodiesel and that penalising SAF imports risks undermining the EU's ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation (Reg 2023/2405) compliance trajectory for airlines. The parallel SAF import-registration requirement is a prophylactic anti-circumvention mechanism — if Chinese exporters attempt to reclassify FAME/HVO shipments as SAF to avoid duties, the registration data creates a traceability paper trail for a potential follow-on investigation.

EU-China clean-tech trade-defence cadence

This is the second EU definitive AD/CVD action against Chinese clean-technology exports in the 2024-25 enforcement cycle, after the BEV countervailing duties (CR 2024/2754, filed 2024-10-29-eu-china-ev-countervailing-duties). Together they mark a structural shift in EU-China trade-defence policy away from traditional heavy-industry sectors (steel, ceramics, solar panels in 2013) toward state-subsidised advanced-manufacturing and energy-transition industries. Mobile access equipment (MAE, CR 2025/45 + CR 2025/796) and passenger-car tyres (Notice C/2025/2778) are the next cluster in this sequence.

Downstream implications

• EU biodiesel producers (Neste, TotalEnergies Renewables, Eni Versalis, Verbio, Argent Energy): significant margin relief from Chinese competition, but feedstock access (UCO) remains tight given global UCO demand.
• EU fuel blenders and aviation sector: short-term cost increase for advanced biofuel blending compliance; longer-term incentive to develop domestic HVO/SAF supply chains.
• RED III compliance: reduces Chinese low-cost advanced biofuel supply into the EU; compliance cost for fuel suppliers increases in the near term.
• Chinese biodiesel exporters: European market largely closed for non-individually-examined exporters (combined 42% total duty); rerouting likely to other markets (UK, Southeast Asia, Middle East).
• UCO feedstock markets: Chinese UCO collection/import volumes for EU-bound biodiesel production may contract, loosening global UCO prices modestly.

Open questions

• Whether the SAF import-registration mechanism will be converted into a formal anti-circumvention investigation if SAF import volumes from China spike post-2025.
• How the parallel CR 2024/2163 provisional duties period (pre-10 Feb 2025) will be reconciled for duties already collected at the provisional rate.
• Whether EcoCeres' 10% rate reflects a sustainable cost-advantage or a temporary export-pricing concession to preserve market access.