Markets

Since 30 January 2009 conventional diesel can be mixed with seven per cent of bio-diesel. This corresponds to a sales market of some 2.28 million tonnes. Up to the present time around 60 per cent has been allocated to sales of pure bio-diesel (B100). However, this backbone of the domestic bio-diesel market is under threat: An increasing tax burden is endangering the competitiveness of the alternative fuel.

With the biofuel legislation passed in 2006 the German government has fundamentally repositioned the promotion of biofuels. Instead of the zero taxation of bio-diesel that was in place up to 2009 there is now a tax burden on pure bio-diesel (B100) that is increasing in annual steps. To compensate for the financial disadvantage to the biofuel producer that will thereby result the legislator has introduced quota regulations. Fuel distributors – such as the large mineral oil companies, for example – are thus obliged to market a certain percentage of bio-diesel and bioethanol. The annual fuel sales of each company in question form the basis for assessment. The full mineral oil tax rate is levied on the biofuel that is added.

And since the start of 2009 there is also an overall quota which in accordance with existing legislation will rise from 6.25 per cent to eight per cent in 2015.