25.04.2018 (Platts) - The biofuel associations of seven Central and Eastern European nations have condemned the EU's RED II (Renewable Energy Directive) proposal to phase out the use of crop-based biofuels post-2020, in a strongly worded press release sent late Tuesday.

The biofuel associations of the Visegrad 4 nations, namely Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia, coupled with those from Latvia, Lithuania and Bulgaria, issued a press release looking at the potential risk to jobs and livelihoods that could stem from this phasing out of crop-based biofuels.

"No proposal to force them [crop-based biofuels] out of the market or reduce their consumption should be entertained, as that is simply a step in the wrong direction and against the grain of policies in every other Paris Agreement signatory," the statement read.

This position comes in defense of approximately 500,000 jobs along the supply chains for biofuels and sustainable feedstocks, the release reads.

Biofuelscan covers the latest worldwide biofuels news and prices and provides a daily summary of market events. Also included are price assessments for ethanol, ETBE, renewal identification numbers (RINs), biofuels and closing market price assessments from the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

They have also called for a binding mandate of not more than 1.5% on a volumetric basis for advanced biofuels and the removal of non-advanced feedstocks, such as palm derivatives and any hydrogenation, esterification or transesterification of plant oils.

They also asked for molasses to be removed from the waste category as "only materials that are real waste (as per the Waste Directive), i.e. only materials that would be discarded, should be included in Annex IX-B [the list of approved waste feedstocks]."

Currently some wastes across Europe are classified as more than single counted, although the group has called for the new proposal at 1.5% to not include multiple counting.

The group has also been vocal in its support for the ban on palm oil as a feedstock post-2020, taking the line that palm oil drives peatland drainage which is harmful to the environment due to soil oxidization. They support the European Parliament vote earlier in the year to ban palm oil and "note that a ban must have a reason in order to withstand any legal challenge."

To this end, they have proposed that the ban is based on palm being the "only biofuel feedstock whose expansion is synonymous with soil oxidation."

Finally, the group have called for a ban on biofuel feedstock's from countries that are not signatories to the Paris Agreement. This is currently only the case for wood biomass which is to be used for purposes other than transport.

These countries all have biofuel capacities and the lion's share of feedstock is corn, wheat and sugar for ethanol, and rapeseed oil for biodiesel production.

Poland is the largest biodiesel producer in this list, with 700,000 mt production capacity, while Hungary is the largest ethanol producer, with 585 million litres production capacity each year, S&P Global Platts Analytics data showed.