UPDATE 1-INTERVIEW-UK biofuel firm says US imports endanger jobs

(adds job losses, updates share price, recasts)

By Nigel Hunt

LONDON, March 7 (Reuters) - Biofuels company D1 Oils (DOO.L: Quote, Profile, Research) saw its shares fall by more than one-third on Friday after the company said it was facing job cuts because subsidised U.S. imports were damaging profitability.

"The simple fact is that you can buy the subsidised American imported material cheaper than you can buy virgin (vegetable) oil for processing...," chief executive officer Elliott Mannis told Reuters in a telephone interview.

About 35 jobs are expected to be cut, or 30 percent of staff employed at its refineries in Middlesbrough and Bromborough in northern England, people familiar with the situation said.

D1 Oils saw its shares tumble on Friday following the job cuts announcement, down 37 pence or 38 percent at 61 pence.

"I think the reaction in terms of share price this morning is extraordinarily disappointing because actually all we are doing is addressing the cost base," Mannis said.

"The worst thing to do would be to leave it untouched. That wouldn't be in the greater ongoing interest of the business."

The profitability of many EU biofuels producers has been devastated by a rapid expansion in shipments from the United States which benefit from substantial subsidies if they are blended with mineral diesel in the United States.