Brussels, 17 August 2023: earlier today, the European Commission officially opened an anti-circumvention investigation to address suspected evasion of EU countervailing duties on Indonesian biodiesel imports via China and via the UK, which was triggered by an EBB request in July 2023. Since the imposition of countervailing duties on biodiesel imports from Indonesia in December 2019, the EBB has had strong indications that subsidised Indonesian palm-oil based biodiesel continues to enter the European Union (EU) market via third countries. Growing volumes of Indonesian palm-oil based biodiesel appear to be exported to China, and then re-exported towards Europe. The Chinese Island of Hainan, located in the South-China Sea, makes an ideal green-fuel hot spot for evaders. In 2022, Hainan, which has no sizeable biodiesel capacity, surprisingly accounted for nearly a third of the 2,3 million tonnes of Chinese biodiesel declared for exports to Europe. Download the full press release here.