In April 2023, ISCC received communications from stakeholders expressing concerns about a surge of advanced bio-diesel imported from China and produced from waste and residue materials that are at least partly supplied from Indonesia and Malaysia. This sharp increase began in late 2022 and peaked in January and February 2023, with serious implications for the European bio-fuels market and indications pointing to a potentially dubious or fraudulent origin of these trade flows.
ISCC has already intensified its work on mitigation measures. As a result, ISCC's Integrity Programme has focused on Asia since last year and additional Integrity Assessments have been conducted at Points of Origin. 70 unannounced Integrity Audits at Processing Units in China and Singapore has been initiated and the unannounced ISCC Integrity Assessments follow strict rules including prompt submission of traceability documents within a given 3-days-deadline. As a result of this action, six certificates have been withdrawn as the companies had not responded within the timeline. In China, Chinese bio-diesel producers said they have zero tolerance for fraud in bio-diesel exports and have pledged to improve compliance and regulation, days after a European industry association called for action to stem "potentially fraudulent" shipments.
STIN company sourced lot of UCO, UCOME, FAME, and HVO for some customers in China every year. As a third-party sourcing service company in this field, STIN also investigated such fraudulent cases with lots of plants, collectors and exporters in China and tried to offer a solution for their customers in China, some UCOME producers did use PAO, POME or other cheaper feedstock to make biodiesel in China and export it to Europe in name of UCOME. According to our experience, here are the main ways for you to stop from fraudulent UCOME suppliers.
1.Inspect and audit the supplier's export qualifications before placing any order
The most important thing is to check their raw materials' Points of Origin, ISCC certificate and the documents related, say, the UCO collector list, the official UCO record, the contract or agreement between the restaurants and plant etc.
2.Conduct a During-Production Inspection after placing the order
Most of our customers will ask us to check the order status during the UCOME production process, then we can check out their raw material record, warehouse, work process and the documents related to make sure the final quality will be OK. We can also check whether the UCOME plant is sourcing other feedstock as well during the production period.
3.Conduct a test after production via third-party test labs
Most of the customers will book third-party Test Services to check the quality before loading in China. The test reports are normally conducted by Saybolt, SGS, BV and TUV etc but if you want to save cost, you can work with small-scale local test labs well.
If you take above measures for every shipment, then it can stop you from any fraudulent UCOME supplier from China. If you are sourcing UCO, UCOME and HVO etc from China, you are free to contact us for any question related.
