The US Treasury Department has issued short-term guidance on the 45Z Clean Fuels Production tax credit which excludes used cooking oil (UCO) imports but includes US and Canadian canola, DTN reported.
In its ruling on 10 January, the department said UCO imports would be excluded due to problems tracing its origin and as palm oil could be mislabelled as UCO.
The new guidance could lead to an increase in canola oil imports, the 13 January report said.
Prior to the ruling, there had been concerns about an influx of UCO imports in the US market, making it difficult to track feedstock quality, DTN wrote in an earlier report on 10 January.
In response to the ruling, some biofuel interest groups quoted in the report said the proposal lacked key details.
Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) was quoted as saying in a 13 January Successful Farming report the package fell “short of expectations” and was “incomplete”.
Although the guidance was “a potential step in the right direction”, work remained to be done before clean fuel producers, farmers and consumers could fully benefit from the 45Z programme, Cooper added.
In a joint statement, the National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA), which represents US crushing companies, issued a joint statement with the American Soybean Association (ASA), which represents soyabean farmers, welcoming the restrictions on imports, Successful Farming wrote.
