Diesel fuel shortage causes biodiesel heat consumption tax to be cancelled

When the state supported the intensive introduction of biodiesel policies and the diesel shortage gradually faded out of public view, the relevant state departments did not stop the fundamental solution to this issue. How to bring other alternative energy sources to the market in a wider range becomes a key issue. Biodiesel is regarded as an important alternative energy source in the era of high oil prices. It has long been popularized in some developed countries, but in China it only “sees its voice and does not see its people.” One of the reasons is that raw materials are scarce and production costs are very low. high. Recent news shows that the country's support for biodiesel policy will be intensively introduced, and the biodiesel market is expected to accelerate its development.

The reporter learned from the person familiar with the matter recently that the State Administration of Taxation and the Ministry of Finance are already considering officially canceling the consumption tax on biodiesel to help them reduce costs and increase their competitiveness. This is undoubtedly a big plus for related companies.

Just last month, AQSIQ and the National Standards Committee issued the standard of bio-diesel blending fuel (B5) that has received much attention from the industry (hereinafter referred to as “B5 Standard”), which is regarded as a major boost to the bio-diesel market. The industry believes that the intensive introduction of these biodiesel policies seems to suggest that China will increase its support for biodiesel in the future. However, there are also people in the industry who believe that as long as the current oil product retail pattern remains unchanged, the promotion of biodiesel is still a long way to go.

The consumption tax for biodiesel was cancelled or cancelled in December 2006. The “Regulation on the issue of excise duties on biodiesel” of the State Administration of Taxation clearly stated that biodiesel produced from animal and vegetable oils as raw materials and purified, refined, and synthesized is not Consumption tax scope.

However, in December 2008, the "Circular of the State Council on Implementing the Reform of Refined Oil Prices and Taxes and Charges" also incorporated biodiesel into the scope of excise tax collection. At present, the excise tax rate for biodiesel is the same as for diesel, both being RMB 0.8/liter.

"This is irrational. The consumption tax for biodiesel should have been cancelled long ago." An expert member of the National Biodiesel Industry Cooperation Group told the reporter yesterday. "This is a 'wrong mistake' - the state originally hoped to levy a consumption tax. In order to encourage biodiesel, it has been shown to treat it in the same way as regular diesel, in order to promote its entry into refined oil, but the results have become a constraint."

According to him, the levying of consumption tax is not the intention of the State Administration of Taxation and the Ministry of Finance. However, some local governments feel that the central government did not explicitly say that they did not accept it, so they levied it one after another. “Before, the levying of biodiesel excise tax in some areas did cause local manufacturers to suffer. Unprepared."

“But recently, officials of the State Administration of Taxation went to the national biodiesel industry cooperation group to consult on the elimination of the biodiesel excise tax, which means that the introduction of this policy has been put on the agenda.” The above-mentioned expert committee member said.

He told this reporter that the State Administration of Taxation and the Ministry of Finance are drafting documents on the elimination of biodiesel consumption tax, and it is expected that they will be introduced next year. By then, there will be another round of investment in biodiesel.

"If the exemption from consumption tax policy is formally introduced, then biodiesel and ordinary diesel will have a cost difference of more than 900 yuan, which is undoubtedly a big plus for biodiesel production companies." Zhuo Lin, analyst at Zhuo Chuang, said.

At the same time, she pointed out that the biodiesel market is not standardized. Many small businesses do not have business licenses, and they do not pay taxes. Some companies use other tax stamps to evade excise taxes. Is it exempt from exemption for areas that are not levied or for small businesses? It doesn't mean much.

"Although, for the regulation of the biodiesel market, this move has a decisive role." On the one hand, Kelina pointed out that on the one hand, in regions where biogas diesel excise duties were not originally imposed, the biodiesel produced will no longer have a price advantage, increasing The production enthusiasm of enterprises in other regions has avoided the regionalization and imbalance in the development of biodiesel. On the other hand, for some small businesses, if the policy expressly stipulates exemption from consumption tax, their production enthusiasm will be greatly encouraged. The latter will also actively bid for business licenses and enter the market with regular status.

Large-scale promotion still takes time. In fact, in the past month, the overall environment of the domestic biodiesel market has changed dramatically: First, in early November, the first batch of biodiesel produced by CNOOC New Energy Investment Corp. was part of Sinopec in Hainan Province. At the gas station trial sales, CNOOC became the only domestic biodiesel producer to enter the automotive field. Hainan also became the first province to close sales of biodiesel. Shortly afterwards, the Biodiesel B5 standard issued by the AQSIQ and the National Standards Committee laid the foundation for the biodiesel to enter the market.

Despite this, in the opinion of many people in the industry, due to the fact that the domestic refined oil retail market has not yet been fully opened and raw materials are scarce, it is still a long time until biodiesel is truly popularized.

The first is the issue of raw materials. In the past few years, the raw material for biodiesel in China was mainly based on waste oil, but the resources for waste oil were very limited, and there were almost no formal recycling companies. The cost of recycling was high. Some unscrupulous businessmen refined the waste oil and returned it again. Going to the table makes raw material sources of biodiesel very problematic.

“In order to ensure the supply of raw materials for biodiesel and curb the flow of waste oil to the table, it is imperative to regulate the introduction of policies on the trench oil market, and such policies must be mandatory,” said Yan Lina.

“Actually, there are other options for raw material resources for biodiesel, such as oil crops such as soybeans and rapeseed, oil tree fruits such as oil palm and berberine, oil and aquatic plants such as engineered microalgae, and animal fats, all of which can be raw materials for biodiesel. On the whole, China has very limited resources for the development of biodiesel, so the industry can only be a limited supplement to the shortage of traditional fossil fuels, said Dong Xiucheng, director of the China Petroleum Industry Development Research Center, China University of Petroleum.

He said that the state officially promulgated and implemented the biodiesel B5 standard, which created the basic conditions for China’s biodiesel to enter the refined oil market, making it possible to add biodiesel to petrochemical diesel for sale and use, making it possible to become a Another non-traditional fuel that enters the mainstream market after the promotion of ethanol gasoline, “But as ethanol gasoline does not have enough vitality, we must not overestimate that biodiesel will play an encouraging role in the future of the automotive fuel market. ".

In his view, biodiesel entering the mainstream market should be a systematic project. It not only includes biodiesel must have quality standards, but also includes a series of complete standard systems such as different mix ratio product standards, raw material storage standards, and specifications of biodiesel processing equipment.

In addition, in the management of the refined oil market, biodiesel needs to enter the mainstream market to further improve the market management methods and establish the corresponding market conditions for biodiesel market access. "Absolutely we must not allow the market to let itself go. Only those biodiesel production companies and products that meet the national industrial policy can be allowed to enter the wholesale, warehousing and retail markets of refined oil," said Dong Xiucheng.

Yan Lina also said that the development of biodiesel must not rely solely on tax policies, and that raw materials, technology, and financial subsidies must all be supported. However, under the background of energy saving and emission reduction, biodiesel still has unique advantages, and the industry is further regulating.