INTERVIEW - Biopetrol Starts Up Biodiesel Plant In Rotterdam
Date: 19-Nov-08
Country: THE NETHERLANDS
Author: Catherine Hornby
CEO Klaus Henschel said he expected the plant to be fully operational by the end of the first quarter of next year but the company would run just one of two lines due to conservative planning and the outlook for demand and margins.
"We took in chemicals and oil yesterday, by the end of this month we expect stable production," Henschel told Reuters in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
The Swiss-based company had originally planned a 2007 start-up for the plant but had to push back the deadline due to manufacturing and permit procedure delays.
Biopetrol said it was targeting sales of 440,000 tonnes of biodiesel in 2009, as it expected a 60 percent utilisation rate of its 750,000 total production capacity, which also includes output from its German facilities in Rostock and Schwarzheide.
The company reported a net loss of 4.4 million euros ($5.56 million) in the third quarter of 2008. Henschel said he expected significant ramp-up costs for the Rotterdam plant in the fourth quarter.
He was concerned about the effects of an economic downturn on demand, but was also positive about the outlook now the United States was ending the "splash and dash" subsidies that allow biofuels to be exported across the Atlantic below cost.
He also expected rapeseed oil, which is the firm's main feedstock, to gain market share in 2009.
"We see a significant shift for our customers towards rapeseed oil," said Henschel. The use of palm and soybean oil would no longer qualify for tax-advantaged deliveries in Germany, he added.
Biopetrol shares, which have tumbled more than 80 percent since the start of this year, were down 16 percent at 0.63 euros by 1015 GMT.
(Reporting by Catherine Hornby, editing by Anthony Barker)