European Biofuels Market

The US is flooding Europe with subsidised biofuels that threaten to destroy Europe's domestic refining market, the head of the biofuel company D1 Oils warned today as its shares lost a third of their value.

Admitting that some 35 jobs could be lost as a result of the cheap imports, Elliott Mannis, chief executive, said: "The simple fact is that you can buy the subsidised American imported material cheaper than you can buy virgin oil for processing."

Shares in D1 Oils closed 36p lower at 62p today after the company told the stockmarket of its plans to begin consultations with employees at its Middlesbrough and Bromborough, Merseyside, sites about job losses.

"The decision to begin consultations with employees is not one we have taken lightly," Mannis said. "Imports of heavily subsidised biodiesel fuel from the US, so-called B99, have eroded margins to the point where we have no choice but to consider how to reduce operating costs.

"We are taking this action in order to manage the business proactively in a difficult market," he added.

Mannis said the EU was trying to negotiate change in Washington and would take the case to