HC Deb 14 September 2004 vol 424 cc1551-2W
Mr. Liddell-Grainger

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the latest figures are that she has collated on the sale of biofuels. [186570]

Mr. Morley

Currently, around two million litres of biodiesel are sold each month in the UK. We are not aware of any sales of bioethanol. Biodiesel sales have been stimulated by the existing 20p per litre duty rate cut. A similar incentive for bioethanol will come into force in January 2005.

Mr. Liddell-Grainger

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of biofuels sold were produced from imported vegetable oil in the last year for which figures are available. [186571]

Mr. Morley

Currently, around half of the two million litres of biodiesel sold each month in the UK comes from imported biodiesel and this is mainly produced from virgin rape seed oil. It is known that some palm oil is used in the production of biodiesel. Total imports of palm oil in 2001, the latest year for which figures are available, amounted to 1.28 million tonnes but information is not collected on the use of the oil. A further one million litres of biodiesel a month comes from recycled waste vegetable oil produced in the UK.