China to promote fuel ethanol in 10 provinces

The use of fuel ethanol in gasoline, blended at a ratio of about 1:9, has been promoted in ten provinces in China. Since June, the price of fuel ethanol has increased to 5,890 yuan (US$860) per ton, but because the price of gasoline is kept low under government control, ethanol producers have to rely on subsidies to make a profit. Anhui BBCA Biochemical Co. Ltd., the only publicly listed producer of fuel ethanol in China, received subsidies of about 2,251 yuan (US$329) per ton in 2007. COFCO, the largest vegetable oil and food importer and exporter in China and a leading food manufacturer, has spent almost 1.5 billion yuan (US$218.98 million) on a 200,000 ton per year (tpy) cassava-based fuel ethanol project at Beihai in the Guangxi region. Consumption of fuel ethanol is forecast to reach three million tpy in 2010, with non-grain biomass feedstocks providing two million tpy of capacity. (August 26, 2008)