May 2, 2006

 

EU may double biodiesel production this year

 

 

EU's biodiesel output rose 65 percent to 3.2 million tonnes in 2005, making it the world's largest producer.

 

The increase is expected to continue this year, with capacity nearly doubling to 6.07 million tonnes, according to the European Biodiesel Board (EBB).

 

In the US, the world's second biggest biodiesel maker, production reached 250,000 tonnes last year, the EBB said. This is almost 10 times lower than the EU.

 

Biofuels consist of either biodiesel made from oilseeds and then blended with diesel, or ethanol, made from cereals such as soy and then blended with gasoline.

 

In the US, where vehicles mainly run on gasoline, the focus has been on ethanol and it has become the world's second producer after Brazil.

 

Germany is the top biodiesel maker in the EU, with output of 1.6 million tonnes last year, followed by France (492,000 tonnes) and Italy (396,000).

 

The EU has set targets for biofuels to make up 5.75 percent of transport fuels in each member state by 2010.

 

Ethanol production in the EU used around 1.2 million tonnes of cereals and 1 million tonnes of sugar beet in 2004.

 

EU biodiesel production from rapeseed is estimated to have used 4.1 million tonnes in 2004, slightly more than 20 percent of EU total oilseed production.

 

More than 810,000 hectares of land were set aside area for growing oilseeds for biodiesel.