Spain to resume biodiesel imports from Argentina

Spain will resume biodiesel imports from Argentina after cutting them off in 2013, reopening what was a US$1bn/y market for the South American country's biofuels industry, Argentine state news service Télam reported.

The 2013 decision was in response to the Argentine government's expropriation of a 51% stake in oil company YPF from Spanish parent Repsol, and preceded antidumping sanctions imposed by the European Union on Argentine biodiesel.

The restrictions crippled Argentina's soy biodiesel industry, essentially relegating it to serving the domestic market.

But following a recommendation by the World Trade Organization to lift the antidumping sanctions, Argentina's ambassador to Spain, Ramón Puerta, told Télam he expects exports to Spain to return to 2012 levels.

As a result of the restrictions by Spain and the EU, Argentina produced 1.8Mt of biofuels in 2015, despite boasting 4.5Mt of capacity, the executive director of Argentine biofuels chamber Carbio, Víctor Castro, was quoted as saying.

The news follows a decree issued by President Mauricio Macri mandating an increase in the admixture of ethanol in the national gasoline mix to 12% from 10% as part of a plan to jumpstart the struggling sugarcane-producing provinces.