COFCO spins off firm

China National Cereals Oil & Foodstuffs Corp. (COFCO) has spun off a new company, China Agri-Industries Holding, which is investing RMB50 million (US$6.47 million) in building a new 5,000-ton-per-annum plant to convert biomass to ethanol. China Agri-Industries has an aggressive investment plan to raise its annual capacity to 1.08 million tons by the end of 2008. China is expected to release a five-year plan for the biofuels sector in the near future that would target to raise the country’s fuel ethanol output to 5 million tons by 2010 and 10 million tons by 2020. Frank Ning, chairman of COFCO, said the company expects to find a way to reduce production costs for ethanol by 2008, as it is working with Denmarks enzyme supplier Novozymes A/S on second-generation biofuels. In August 2006, Novozymes entered into a collaborative agreement with China Resources Alcohol Corp. (CRAC), a business segment within COSCO, to engage in cellulosic ethanol. (March 28, 2007)