China’s Baorun starts biodiesel facility

China’s Xi’an Baorun Industrial Development Co. Ltd., a private-sector oil product wholesaler, has begun producing biodiesel from waste cooking oil in the northwest province of Shaanxi, a company official said. The company is planning to list either in the United States or Hong Kong to fund its second-phase facility, which would produce 200,000 tons a year from crops such as jatropha, he said. Beijing is promoting biofuels to reduce the country’s reliance on imported oil and improve farmers’ incomes, but it has not yet mandated blending with conventional diesel fuel. (October 11, 2007)