Prospects for Worldwide Biodiesel Market Development

Biodiesel started to be widely produced in the early 1990s and since then production has been increasing steadily. The global biodiesel industry is among the fastest-growing markets the chemical industry has ever seen. World capacity, production, and consumption of biodiesel grew on average by 32% per year during 2000-2005, and the industry looks set for even faster growth rates-115% per year for capacity, and 101% per year for demand-in the years to 2008 and beyond. Germany, the largest biodiesel market, has excluded biofuels from taxation altogether. The main characteristic of Germany is to market 100% pure biodiesel, which is on sale in Germany at over 1,500 public filling stations.