China to provide subsidies to bio-energy sector
(Xinhua)Updated: 2006-12-01 11:02
The country produced 1.02 million tons of bio-ethanol from corn and other raw
materials in 2005. The ethanol is added to petrol at a ratio of 1:10 for use in
automobiles.
The government estimates that by 2010, ethanol-mix petrol
will account for half of China's petrol consumption.
Large firms, such
as the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and the China National
Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corp (COFCO), have announced ambitious plans for
bio-energy investments.
CNPC has signed an agreement with the government
of Sichuan Province in southwest China to develop facilities to produce 600,000
tons of automotive-grade ethanol from sweet potatoes each year and 100,000 tons
bio-diesel made from the seeds of the jatropha curcas tree.
COFCO said
in October it would invest one billion yuan (126 million U.S. dollars) to build
a major ethanol plant in Guangxi region, also in southwest China.
The
plant, with a capacity of 400,000 tons, will lift 1.1 million farmers out of
poverty by growing cassava as the raw material for the plant, said Yue Guojun,
head of COFCO's bio-chemical and bio-energy division.
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