Head of Ukrainian Agriculture Ministry Alexander Baranivskiy declared recently that his Ministry promotes new Law allowing all biodiesel factories to have big privileges in taxes payment. Ministry officials consider that new legislative rules increase biodiesel production in Ukraine to 1,6 millions per year. Experts consider new legislative changes as a new criminal loophole to be free from taxes payment.

In the nearest future Ukraine can leave behind all neighbours from the former Soviet Union , having realised new born projects on the development of biodiesel industry.

It can start from building of two factories in Sumy and Zhitomir regions. Officials from Ukrainian Ministry of agriculture declared that Cabinet of Ministers accepted Program on development biodiesеl industry in Ukraine to 2010 half a year ago. However, they did not work out how it would be done and when.

Western Europe, USA, Canada, and Australia started to produce biodiesel much earlier. It was caused by high prices on traditional energy carriers. The biodiesel, made from rape oil, much cheaper than petroleum. That is why the growth in demand and prices for rape oil were going up very fast. American and European businesspersons found out the big future of new energy product and invested solid money in its development on the native and international market.

“Ukraine is needed in more rape - planted areas for biodiesel project,- specialists from Ukrainian analytical company “Ukragroconsulting” consider. - Last year we had 200.000 ha, planted by rapeseeds. It will be increased to 500.000 ha this year. If Ukraine realizes biodiesel project, the fuel needs for agriculture will be covered for 82 percents to 2010”

But our country couldn’t reach a success with biodiesel so fast as Ukrainian government wanted it. The same “Ukragroconsulting” experts said that it is impossible because of many unsolved problems like the absence of legislative laws concerning to new fuel, the absence of state subsidies, negative relation of black oil businessmen to biodiesel, others.

Tatyana Zheleznaya, researcher of Ukrainian Institution of technical physics, sees the other cause for slow development of Ukrainian biodiesel. It is not so good quality of rapeseeds, the main source for rape oil, from what the biodiesel produced.

Bad quality of rapeseeds influenced the rape productivity .It is very low in Ukraine: 15 centners from 1 ha. There are 30 centners and more from 1 ha in Western Europe at the same time.

Though Ukrainian oil industry looks as a small spot on the world map of oil industry, David Jakson, representative of British company “LMC International” said recently on the International “BlackSeaGrain conference” in Kiev, that Ukraine has very strong potential to develop biodiesel industry.

But until today it has not been native rape oil market and, consequently, it has not been biodiesel. The same situation is in Russia, Kazakhstan. There are no factories for recycling of rape oil. “Only talks about it, like in Ukraine”,- said Baurshan Kabyshev, representative of Kazakh Food contract corporation to our correspondent.