COFCO Biochemical posts 21% net profit gain in 2011

Biochemical (Anhui) Co. Ltd. (COFCO Biochemical), a leading agricultural products processing company in China, reported that net profit for 2011 jumped 21% to CNY 355 million (US$36.35 million), because of subsidies from the government on sales of corn-based ethanol. The company sold 470,115 tons of fuel ethanol last year and it received CNY 600 million (US$95.2 million) in government subsidies. COFCO Biochemical, which processes three million tons of corn annually, said that it would begin to actively develop fuel ethanol without using grains. State-owned grain trader COFCO Co. Ltd. owns 20.74% of COFCO Biochemical. (February 29, 2012)