Indonesia wins appeal against EU over anti-dumping duty on biodiesel

JAKARTA - Indonesia has won an appeal against the European Union in a dispute over the bloc's anti-dumping duty on biodiesel, the Ministry of Trade said in a statement on Wednesday.

The European Court of Justice, the EU's highest court, ruled that the bloc must do away with anti-dumping duties of between 8.8 percent to 23.3 percent on imports of Indonesian biodiesel products.

Indonesia is one of the world's largest exporters of palm oil-based biodiesel.

"With the elimination of these duties, businesses can once again export biodiesel to the EU," said Oke Nurwan, director general of foreign trade at the Indonesian trade ministry.

He added that the elimination of duties was valid from March 16, 2018.

The Indonesia Biofuel Producers Association welcomed the ruling.

"We're asking producers to prepare exports soon," said Paulus Tjakrawan, vice chairman of the association.

He declined to give an estimate on expected export volumes.

The EU court ruling reinforces a decision made by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) earlier this year, which said the EU needed to bring its measures into conformity with WTO agreements.

Indonesia also plans to challenge anti-subsidy duties in the United States in a U.S. court and at the WTO.

Indonesia has also been pushing domestic biodiesel consumption as part of an ambitious plan to develop its biofuels industry. It plans to expand biodiesel subsidies to cover palm-oil blended fuels for use by its huge mining sector in addition to the power sector.