China said to be pulling back from ambitious biofuel plan

Rising food prices has forced China to cut down its ambitious plans to develop the biofuel industry. The announcement comes following the steep rise in food prices in China and a worldwide concern over the role played by the emerging biofuel industry in food-grain shortages. Last year, the country produced 502 million tons, which was close to the requirement of 512 million tons, the ministry said. The government recently said it maintains reserves of food grains ranging between 150 million tons and 200 million tons, which works out to nearly 40% of the country’s food grain requirement. (May 11, 2008)