Daniel Englander
The Morning Feedstock April 30, 2008 at 5:25 AM
China’s coal reserves have dwindled in recent months to 46.7 million tons, enough to last the country 12 days. Following a crushing winter that saw millions of travelers tied up for days during the Lunar New Year and the country’s push to become a net exporter of coal, China may in fact be bleeding itself dry. State officials report China exported 8.75 million tons during the first two months of 2008, up 13.5 percent year-on-year, at a price of $630 million, or $72.2 per ton. During that same period, the country’s imports declined 18.2 percent to 7.06 million tons at a cost of $450 million - up 13.1 percent year-on-year - with average costs reaching $63.3 per ton. Particularly worrisome here is that “China is importing a smaller volume of Coal than last year, but actually spending more money doing it.” Mining and transportation are having a hard time keeping up with the coal demand from factories and power plants. Continuing industrial and energy production at the pace it’s moving at now may just break the bank. At least all those plants will get turned off during the Olympics.
From one poorly thought out energy policy to another. The European Biodiesel Board has lodged a anti-dumping and anti-subsidy complaint with the European Competition authorities against the United States for a practice known as splash-and-dash. This is like the biodiesel equivalent of a one night stand. Under the U.S. subsidization policy adopted in 2004, biodiesel producers become eligible for the $300/ton subsidy if their product is blended in the U.S. As a result, biodiesel produced in Asia and the E.U. is increasingly being shipped to the U.S., blended with a drop of mineral diesel and re-exported to the E.U. to take advantage of their subsidy packages. It is estimated that 10 percent of all biodiesel in Europe is involved in this practice. In it’s complaint, the EBB stated splash-and-dash is “threatening the very concept of international trade in biodiesel.” The U.S.-based National Biodiesel Board promptly told the EBB to “cut your hair and get a job.”
In lighter news today, a California judge has ruled in favor of polar bears, forcing the Bush Administration to decide within the next 16 days if the bears are an endangered species. The administration apparently missed its January 9 deadline, and was pushing for a June 30 extension when Judge Claudia Wilken made her decision. 16 days isn’t a whole lot of time to straighten out those exploration contracts.
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