The Dutch foreign trade minister has said it is a ‘scandal’ if Dutch companies are knowingly diverting toxic fuel to countries with lower pollution limits.

Yesterday, Swiss campaigning organisation Public Eye published a report claiming that commodity trading firms ‘exploit lax regulatory standards to sell African customers fuel with [a] high sulfur content’.

Much of this fuel is produced by companies in port areas of the Netherlands and Belgium, reports NOS, and some ‘African-quality’ diesel has 378 times more sulfur than permitted in the EU.

Lilianne Ploumen, minister for foreign trade, said to the public broadcaster: ‘If this is true, the companies involved should be ashamed. Unfortunately, we often hear reports of abuses in this sector. This is why I previously decided to do research into how the Dutch oil and gas sector acts abroad. We will take this report into consideration.’

The environmental ministry said, however, it is not illegal to ship contaminated diesel to Africa as long as traders abide by environmental standards at their destination.

Other political parties expressed their alarm at the reports. VVD Liberal party member Remco Dijkstra added that it would be good if African countries adopted EU limits ‘so we could then tackle the problem as a whole.’