* Fall due to tough competition with recycled oil biodiesel
* Parent oilseed group Sofiproteol posts loss on low margins
* Says Morocco’s Lesieur Cristal results to be lower
By Sybille de La Hamaide
PARIS, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Output of French biodiesel producer Diester Industrie fell by one fifth in 2011 to 1.3 million tonnes, a consolidated figure worse than the one given by the producer last week, parent company Sofiproteol said on Thursday.
The chief executive of Diester Industrie, the European Union’s largest biodiesel maker, had told Reuters last week that the 2011 output had fallen to 1.35 million tonnes, a 15 percent drop.
The fall was linked to a double-counting system used in France, under which biodiesel made from recycled oil counts double in the level of compulsory blending in gasoil imposed on refiners and, as a result, reduces their demand for biodiesel made with virgin vegetable oil.
“We produced 1.3 million tonnes in 2011, while it should have been 1.9 million tonnes. and this is mainly due to the double-counting system,” Sofiproteol Chief Executive Philippe Tillous-Borde said at a news conference on its 2011 results.
Recycled cooking oil and animal fat benefit from double counting because of their reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
Diester Industrie is hoping that a recent French ruling that sets at 0.35 percent the volume of double-counting biodiesel in the blend will brighten the industry’s outlook for 2012.
The European biodiesel sector has suffered severely in recent years, pressured by cheap imports, high input costs and wavering political support in the face of doubts about its environmental credentials and more plants are likely to be shuttered this year.
SOFIPROTEOL, LESIEUR CRISTAL RESULTS
Sofiproteol, a group controlled by oilseed growers that also produces cooking oil, animal feed and renewable chemicals, posted a 16 percent rise in its 2011 turnover at 6.5 billion euros ($8.6 billion).
But a rise in oilseed prices and difficulties in passing this on to clients hurt its margins and cut profits, the group said.
In 2012 results were expected to improve, but a recent cold spell in France could hurt rapeseed crops and lead to a rise in prices, it is still too early to call, Tillous-Borde said.
“If the seed output is there, I think the overall outlook should be satisfying,” he said.
Core earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell 17 percent to 250 million euros ($331.4 million) in 2011 from the previous year.
The purchase of a minority stake in Moroccan cooking oil branch Lesieur Cristal was due to be finalised on Friday, Tillous-Borde said.
Asked about the Moroccan company’s performance, he declined to give details because the company is listed but said last year had been difficult.
“Compared with the 2010 results, without question results will be lower,” Tillous-Borde said.
He explained the company had struggled to increase prices during the first half of the year due to political events, although the Arab Spring upheaval has not hit Morocco in the same way as its neighbours.
The company in 2010 posted EBITDA of 314 million Moroccan dirhams ($37.3 million) on turnover of 3.44 billion dirhams. ($1 = 0.7545 euros) ($1 = 8.4162 Moroccan dirhams) (editing by Jane Baird)
