28/09/05 PETALING JAYA,(Bernama) -- The European Union (EU) expects to seethe usage of biofuel reach two percent by 2007 or 2008 compared with theconventional fuel.

However, Rafaello Garofalo, the secretary general of the EuropeanBiodiesel Board, said that only a 0.6 percent target had been set to beachieved by end of this year.

Garofalo said there were member states that had yet to embrace biodiesel,while some did not want it at all, as it was not mandatory.

Nevertheless, the push for biodiesel is evolving in a positive way, albeitslowly, he told Bernama at the sidelines of the International Palm OilCongress (PIPOC) 2005, here Wednesday.

He also said that 10 days ago, the Netherlands had announced a legislationon biodiesel. "So it is actually moving," he said on a positive note.

In the EU, biodiesel is strong in countries like Italy and Germany, but itis only starting out in other member nations like Austria, Spain, Portugaland the United Kingdom.

Garofalo said that in the last three years, growth in biodiesel productionin Europe averaged at 35 percent.

"We might still have the same growth rate in few years to come, especiallywith all the projects on biodiesel now," he said.

-- BERNAMA