Hainan Yedao plans ethanol fuel JV

Chinese liquor and healthcare product maker Hainan Yedao (Group) Co., Ltd. said that it was given the green light by the board of directors to build an ethanol fuel project jointly with a state-owned larger petrochemical company whose identity was not revealed. Using cassava as raw material, the project will be capable of producing 100,000 tons per year (tpy) of ethanol fuel and 20,000 tpy of food-grade liquid carbon dioxide. It will have a total investment of 350 million yuan (US$50.9 million), more than 50% of which will be contributed by the two partners and the rest by other means of fund-raising. The company signed a cooperative agreement with the Laos government in January that it would spend US$25 million planting and processing cassava in Laos. It has leased 4,498 hectares of land there for cassava production to secure abundant and stable raw material supply for the ethanol fuel project. Trial planting has started to prepare for mass planting in the future. (July 21, 2008)<BR>