By Chen Aizhu

SINGAPORE, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Chinese biodiesel manufacturers are looking for brand-new outlets in Asia for their exports and checking out producing other biofuels as supply to the European Union, their biggest purchaser, dries up ahead of anti-dumping tariffs, biofuel executives and analysts said.

The EU will impose provisionary anti-dumping tasks of between 12.8% and 36.4% on Chinese biodiesel from Friday, striking over 40 companies consisting of leading producers Zhejiang Jiaao, Henan Junheng and Longyan Zhuoyue Group in an export service that was worth $2.3 billion in 2015.

Some larger producers are considering the marine fuel market in China and Singapore, the world's leading marine fuel hub, as they look for to offset already falling biodiesel exports to the EU, biofuel executives stated.

Exports to the bloc have actually fallen greatly considering that mid-2023 amid examinations. Volumes in the very first 6 months of this year plunged 51% from a year earlier to 567,440 loads, Chinese customizeds information revealed.

June deliveries shrank to just over 50,000 loads, the least expensive since mid-2019, according to custom-mades data.

At their peak, exports to the EU reached a record 1.8 million lots in 2023, representing 90% of all Chinese biodiesel exports that year. The Netherlands was the top importer in 2023, taking in 84% of China's biodiesel deliveries to the EU, followed by Belgium and Spain, Chinese customs figures revealed.

Chinese manufacturers of biodiesel have enjoyed fat earnings recently, making the many of the EU's green energy policy that gives aids to companies that are utilizing biodiesel as a sustainable transport fuel such as Repsol, Shell and Neste.

Much of China's biodiesel manufacturers are privately-run little plants employing ratings of workers processing waste oil gathered from countless Chinese dining establishments. Before the biodiesel export boom, they were making lower-value goods like soaps and processing leather products.

However, the boom was brief. The EU began in August last year investigating Indonesian biodiesel that was presumed of circumventing duties by going through China and Britain, followed by a 14-month anti-dumping probe into Chinese biodiesel believed to be priced artificially low and damaging local manufacturers.

Anticipating the tariffs, traders stockpiled on used cooking oil (UCO), lifting costs of the feedstock, while rates of biodiesel sank in view of shrinking demand for the Chinese supply.

"With hefty costs of UCO partially supported by strong U.S. and European need, and free-falling item rates, business are having a bumpy ride enduring," stated Gary Shan, primary marketing officer of Henan Junheng.

Prices of hydrotreated grease, or HVO, a main type of biodiesel, have cut in half versus last year's average to the existing $1,200 to $1,300 per metric load and are off a peak of $3,000 in 2022, Shan included.

With low rates, biodiesel plants have actually cut their operations to a lowest level of under 20% of existing capacity usually in July, down from a peak of 50% last seen in early 2023, according to Chinese consultancies Sublime China Information and JLC.

Meanwhile, diminishing biodiesel sales are boosting China's UCO exports, which analysts predict are set to touch a brand-new high this year. UCO exports skyrocketed by two-thirds year-on-year in the very first half of 2024 to 1.41 million heaps, with the United States, Singapore and the Netherlands the leading locations.

OUTLETS

While many smaller plants are most likely to shutter production indefinitely, bigger producers like Zhejiang Jiaao, Leoking Enviro Group and Longyan Zhuoyue are checking out new outlets including the marine fuel market in the house and in the important center of Singapore, which is utilizing more biodiesel for ship fuel mixing, according to the biofuel executives.

One of the manufacturers, Longyan Zhuoyue, agreed in January with COSCO Shipping to utilize more biodiesel in marine fuel.

Companies would also speed up preparation and structure of sustainable air travel fuel (SAF) plants, executives said. China is anticipated to reveal an SAF mandate before completion of 2024.

They have also been searching for new biodiesel clients outside the EU bloc, in Australia, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia where there are regional requireds for the alternative fuel, the authorities added.

(Reporting by Chen Aizhu; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)