United States shipped about 300 million gallons of biodiesel to Europe in 2007

Struggling biodiesel producers have found a way to stay in business despite soaring production costs. They're putting their biodiesel on ships and sending it to Europe. It's economical to export biodiesel because U.S. taxpayers subsidize the fuel additive and it also benefits from tax incentives in Europe and the relative weakness of the dollar against the euro. The weak dollar makes U.S. products cheaper compared with European goods.

The United States shipped about 300 million gallons of biodiesel to Europe in 2007, a 10-fold increase from the year before, according to the European Commission. U.S. biodiesel production last year was estimated at 450 million gallons. European biodiesel producers are threatening to file an anti-dumping case against the imported biodiesel, arguing that it is unfairly subsidized because of the $1-a-gallon U.S. tax credit. The case could result in new duties being imposed on the U.S. Product. The imported biodiesel represents 15 percent to 20 percent of the European biodiesel market.