Indonesia has filed a WTO lawsuit against the EU over plans to phase out palm oil-based biofuel for vehicles, the Indonesian Ministry of Trade said on Sunday.
The action could escalate a trade dispute between Indonesia — the world’s top palm oil producer — and the EU, which plans to end its use of biofuels by 2030, citing concerns over widespread deforestation caused by the sector.
The EU earlier imposed duties on imports of subsidized biodiesel from Indonesia, saying that it was needed to level the playing field for its producers.
In response to what it called “discriminative” policies against its key palm oil exports, Indonesia said it last week filed a complaint with the WTO.
“Indonesia officially sent a request for consultation on Dec. 9, 2019, to the EU as the initial step for the lawsuit,” Indonesian Minister of Trade Agus Suparmanto said in a statement.
Neighboring Malaysia, the world’s second-biggest palm oil producer, has also threatened WTO action against the EU.
Malaysian Minister of Primary Industries Teresa Kok (郭素沁) yesterday told reporters that she would head to Europe in March, and a challenge would not be filed until after then.
She said she wanted to try to convince European officials to change course on her trip.
“I want to give my trip a chance and see whether I can avoid filing the case at the WTO,” she added.
Palm oil is the world’s most widely used vegetable oil and a key ingredient in a wide range of products from food to cosmetics.
However, environmentalists say it drives deforestation, with huge swathes of Southeast Asian rainforest logged in the past few decades to make way for palm plantations.
Iman Pambagyo, Indonesia’s director general for international trade negotiations, said Jakarta had previously tried other bilateral avenues to reach an agreement, without success.
“We need to assert Indonesia’s stance on EU policy,” Pambagyo said, referring to the WTO complaint, adding that he hoped for the “best solution.”
Taiwan’s exports soared 56 percent year-on-year to an all-time high of US$64.05 billion last month, propelled by surging global demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing and cloud service infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) called the figure an unexpected upside surprise, citing a wave of technology orders from overseas customers alongside the usual year-end shopping season for technology products. Growth is likely to remain strong this month, she said, projecting a 40 percent to 45 percent expansion on an annual basis. The outperformance could prompt the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and
The demise of the coal industry left the US’ Appalachian region in tatters, with lost jobs, spoiled water and countless kilometers of abandoned underground mines. Now entrepreneurs are eyeing the rural region with ambitious visions to rebuild its economy by converting old mines into solar power systems and data centers that could help fuel the increasing power demands of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. One such project is underway by a non-profit team calling itself Energy DELTA (Discovery, Education, Learning and Technology Accelerator) Lab, which is looking to develop energy sources on about 26,305 hectares of old coal land in
Netflix on Friday faced fierce criticism over its blockbuster deal to acquire Warner Bros Discovery. The streaming giant is already viewed as a pariah in some Hollywood circles, largely due to its reluctance to release content in theaters and its disruption of traditional industry practices. As Netflix emerged as the likely winning bidder for Warner Bros — the studio behind Casablanca, the Harry Potter movies and Friends — Hollywood’s elite launched an aggressive campaign against the acquisition. Titanic director James Cameron called the buyout a “disaster,” while a group of prominent producers are lobbying US Congress to oppose the deal,
Two Chinese chipmakers are attracting strong retail investor demand, buoyed by industry peer Moore Threads Technology Co’s (摩爾線程) stellar debut. The retail portion of MetaX Integrated Circuits (Shanghai) Co’s (上海沐曦) upcoming initial public offering (IPO) was 2,986 times oversubscribed on Friday, according to a filing. Meanwhile, Beijing Onmicro Electronics Co (北京昂瑞微), which makes radio frequency chips, was 2,899 times oversubscribed on Friday, its filing showed. The bids coincided with Moore Threads’ trading debut, which surged 425 percent on Friday after raising 8 billion yuan (US$1.13 billion) on bets that the company could emerge as a viable local competitor to Nvidia
RSS