TO GET A bird’s eye view of what’s happening in the UK, we quote comments by Louise Cole, deputy editor of Commercial Motor, UK. “Acceptance is mixed - there are large companies such as supermarket Asda who trialled it and decided it wasn't for them. There are also some hauliers who swear by it. However, distribution and availability remain big problems as does suspicion of product quality. Tax relief gives the product rough parity with normal diesel so there is no financial incentive to use it - sometimes the reverse. 

”More people experiment with higher mixes for environmental reasons and I haven't talked to any who have had mechanical problems. However, vehicle manufactures give strictly reduced service intervals if you are running biodiesel. They do accept it as there is market demand - for instance the CV show in April 2007 was dominated by stickers on the sides of vehicles saying 'runs on biodiesel'. But our politicians are hanging back because they do not trust that the market will find green feedstock sources and most operators are focusing on reducing fuel use rather than switching fuel. 

”I think the market here will change again when we get gas to liquid biomass products - it will ease the feedstock problems and be altogether more commercially viable.” 

UK producer, Refuel Energy says the absence of government subsidies is not the biggest challenge. Rather, it is the lack of consumer confidence in the product. The Royal Society, UK’s academy of science, says the government driven effort to increase the use of biofuels may fail to deliver significant greenhouse emissions benefits because it may be locked into using inefficient sources. 

In Germany, the plan to increase blending levels in fossil fuel is bad news for the crisis-ridden industry, says the Guardian. Five percent now, rising to 20% in 2020, generates huge imports of biodiesel for blending. Presently, subsidised US producers are the only winners. These imports are sold in the EU at unfair low prices. However, the US government may soon halt the practice of exporting US subsidies. If a tax increase happens, many German producers will stop producing. Germany is currently producing only 20% of its capacity. 

In the USA, producers want a specific mandate for biodiesel to  reach a billion gallons by 2012. Biofuels have changed the dynamics in agriculture says chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. The increased demand for maize (corn) in the US resulted in more being planted at the expense of wheat, soy beans and cotton, helping farm income to increase by 48% over 2006. Biodiesel producers worry the good times won’t continue unless Congress acts to guarantee a growing demand for biodiesel and ethanol. Soaring soybean oil prices already exceed levels producers can afford to pay, economists comment. 

MAIZE Increased demand for maize in the US resulted in more maize being planted at the expense of wheat, soybeans and cotton.