EU limits on SAF imports unlikely amid tight supply

Calls from some producers to limit Asian imports of sustainable aviation fuel to Europe are unlikely to come to anything, as the Continent needs more product, an official at biofuels producer EcoCeres said in an interview.

TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanee called on EU regulators in January at the World Economic Forum to support premium prices for Europe’s low-carbon fuels market, or risk offshoring its transitioning refining sector to growing producers such as China.

However, this call for policy protection from regulators for European SAF production might fall on deaf ears. “I don’t believe it will happen simply because Europe is short,” Phillip Moore, global head of SAF at EcoCeres, told Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, in an interview on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association’s Aviation Energy Forum in Baku.

“There’s not the capacity to supply from here and there is a genuine need, so why would you want to have antidumping?,” he said.

Biofuels have felt pressure from Asian imports more widely. Chinese import competition was widely blamed for a slump in biodiesel prices in 2024 that left many suppliers struggling to break even and saw large-scale projects paused. In August, the EU imposed tariffs on Chinese biodiesel to support European projects, but exempted SAF from the measures.

The market for biofuels is struggling amid oversupply, but toughening mandates boost the longer-term outlook, management at Dutch storage firm Royal Vopak and Austrian refinery OMV said in summer 2024.

Platts assessed SAF on a CIF basis in Northwest Europe at $1,774/mt over jet cargoes May 14, a premium of 158% and down from 203% when the SAF assessment was launched in September 2023.

Looking ahead, EU mandates will raise demand and Europe could fall short on supplies, with prices rising accordingly, according to analysts.

New capacity

EcoCeres has a 350,000 mt/year biofuels plant in Jiangsu, China. The company is about to complete a second plant in Johor, Malaysia, with a capacity of 420,000 mt/year. From 2026 onward, the company will have up to 500,000 mt/year of SAF production.

“Most of our market is in Europe, and we are selling to obligated parties and also to airlines,” Moore said.

Feedstock is waste-based and mostly used cooking oil. With the startup of its Malaysian plant, the company will also be looking at some other feedstocks, soap stock, soybean oil, animal fats from Australia and New Zealand, and fish oil fats from Vietnam.

EcoCeres is considering another hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids pathway plant in Southeast Asia and FID will be taken either later in 2026 or early in 2026.

The company also produces hydrotreated vegetable oils and cellulosic ethanol.

There is growing interest in bringing product produced in Asia to Europe across the industry. TotalEnergies and China’s Sinopec will jointly develop and own a 230,000 mt/year sustainable aviation fuel production unit at a Sinopec refinery in China, the companies said in March. It is eyeing potential export routes to Europe.

Tags: EU, restrictions