US Biodiesel imports doubled from 2022 to 2023

In Washington, the International Energy Administration reports annual U.S. biodiesel imports doubled from 2022 to 2023 to 33,000 barrels per day (b/d) and continued to rise in the first two months of 2024, according to the most recent data available. Much of the increase in biodiesel imports has come from Germany, and the remaining increase has come mostly from elsewhere in Europe, where a biodiesel surplus has lowered prices.

U.S. imports of biodiesel, a transportation and heating fuel typically blended with petroleum diesel or heating oil, averaged 12,000 b/d between September 2017 and October 2022.

Annual U.S. biodiesel imports increased between 2013 and 2017 to 27,000 b/d because of subsidized biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia. In response to these subsidies and increased imports, the U.S. Department of Commerce and International Trade Commission initiated trade investigations in April 2017 that resulted in antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders that put duties on biodiesel imports from these countries to offset the effects of the subsidies. Because imports from Argentina and Indonesia made up almost three-quarters of total U.S. biodiesel imports between 2013 and 2017, U.S. biodiesel imports decreased significantly after the investigation and orders.