China rations diesel, subsidizes biofuel feedstock producers
China is rationing diesel at pump stations in at least four booming coastal provinces in the widest-scale rationing seen since 2003, as red-hot global oil prices hit output at loss-making Chinese refiners. Truck drivers reported long queues at petrol stations along a national highway linking Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, with each truck getting 100 yuan ($13) worth of diesel, or around 20 litres, per visit at a state-run station and 40 litres at a private kiosk.
Many in southern China's Guangdong province, China's manufacturing and export hub, suspended business due to the dearth of fuel, industry officials said.
An alternative to rationing would be to increase the price of fuel to reflect record crude prices. But chinese refiners cannot pass the soaring crude costs on to consumers because Beijing fears stoking already high inflation. Instead it rigidly caps pump fuel rates to shield users from a 50 percent rally in global oil so far this year. China is thus massively subsidizing petroleum fuels.
At the same time, China's Ministry of Finance has finalized a subsidy plan for farmers and firms involved in planting feedstock for China's emerging alternative to oil: the domestic biofuel industry. The plan will be implemented early next year. The news was announced by Liu Yonglu, deputy director of the Ministry of Finance's Tax Department at the Next Biofuels Technologies forum.
The subsidies break down as follows:
The subsidies would only go to producers that have guaranteed that end users of the crops are biodiesel and fuel ethanol producers. There is no restriction on the properties of the producers, which could also include foreign enterprises:
energy :: sustainability :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: ethanol :: biodiesel :: energy crops :: subsidies :: China ::
The move is the latest gesture from the Chinese government in its efforts to promote the biofuel industry, which will help offset over-dependency on fossil fuels and associated environmental damage. However, after a larger-than-expected amount of corn, a common feedstock for fuel ethanol, was supplied to the profitable deep processing industrial sector last year, the government implemented policies that would encourage only projects that use non-grain products.
According to China's Renewable Energy Plan released last month, China aims to eventually replace 10 million tons of fossil fuel with biomass, and produce 10 million tons of non-grain ethanol fuel annually (previous post).
As the third-largest ethanol fuel producer and consumer after the United States and Brazil, China's annual ethanol fuel output is currently around 1.02 million tons, of which 800,000 tons are processed from corn. Only four enterprises in the country are approved by the government to use grains to process ethanol.
China will focus on the construction of several sweet sorghum-based ethanol projects in Shandong Province and other northeastern areas, as well as constructing a number of sweet potato-based projects in southern China by 2010.
The country plans to have biofuel account for 15 percent of the country's total transportation fuel consumption by 2020.
References:
Interfax: China to subsidize biofuel feedstock producers - October 25, 2007.
Reuters: China rations diesel as record oil hits supplies - October 26, 2007.
Biopact: China unveils $265 billion renewable energy plan, aims for 15% renewables by 2020 - September 06, 2007
Article continues
Many in southern China's Guangdong province, China's manufacturing and export hub, suspended business due to the dearth of fuel, industry officials said.
An alternative to rationing would be to increase the price of fuel to reflect record crude prices. But chinese refiners cannot pass the soaring crude costs on to consumers because Beijing fears stoking already high inflation. Instead it rigidly caps pump fuel rates to shield users from a 50 percent rally in global oil so far this year. China is thus massively subsidizing petroleum fuels.
At the same time, China's Ministry of Finance has finalized a subsidy plan for farmers and firms involved in planting feedstock for China's emerging alternative to oil: the domestic biofuel industry. The plan will be implemented early next year. The news was announced by Liu Yonglu, deputy director of the Ministry of Finance's Tax Department at the Next Biofuels Technologies forum.
The subsidies break down as follows:
- feedstock producers who plant biofuel crops on land not intended for food will be subsidized RMB 200 (€18.5/$26.9) per mu (€280/$403.5 per hectare) a year
- feedstock producers who grow crops in forested areas will receive RMB 180 (€18/$24) per mu (€250/$360 per hectare)
The subsidies would only go to producers that have guaranteed that end users of the crops are biodiesel and fuel ethanol producers. There is no restriction on the properties of the producers, which could also include foreign enterprises:
energy :: sustainability :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: ethanol :: biodiesel :: energy crops :: subsidies :: China ::
The move is the latest gesture from the Chinese government in its efforts to promote the biofuel industry, which will help offset over-dependency on fossil fuels and associated environmental damage. However, after a larger-than-expected amount of corn, a common feedstock for fuel ethanol, was supplied to the profitable deep processing industrial sector last year, the government implemented policies that would encourage only projects that use non-grain products.
According to China's Renewable Energy Plan released last month, China aims to eventually replace 10 million tons of fossil fuel with biomass, and produce 10 million tons of non-grain ethanol fuel annually (previous post).
As the third-largest ethanol fuel producer and consumer after the United States and Brazil, China's annual ethanol fuel output is currently around 1.02 million tons, of which 800,000 tons are processed from corn. Only four enterprises in the country are approved by the government to use grains to process ethanol.
China will focus on the construction of several sweet sorghum-based ethanol projects in Shandong Province and other northeastern areas, as well as constructing a number of sweet potato-based projects in southern China by 2010.
The country plans to have biofuel account for 15 percent of the country's total transportation fuel consumption by 2020.
References:
Interfax: China to subsidize biofuel feedstock producers - October 25, 2007.
Reuters: China rations diesel as record oil hits supplies - October 26, 2007.
Biopact: China unveils $265 billion renewable energy plan, aims for 15% renewables by 2020 - September 06, 2007
Article continues
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Bioenergy and Africa's Green Revolution themes at ASA-CSSA-SSSA meetings
Biofuels from biomass
Researchers have been studying fuels from biomass for years and will report on the progress they are making. Amongst them is Dr. Jorge Da Silva, associate professor of molecular genetics and plant breeding, Soil & Crop Sciences Department, Texas A&M University, who will discuss the use of sugar instead of corn for fuels.
His presentation will be during the symposium 'Agronomic Aspects of Biofuel Crop Production', November 6.
Dr. Bill Rooney, professor of plant breeding and genetics, Soil & Crop Sciences Department, Texas A&M University will discuss a regionally sensitive approach to biofuel production: the best source for biofuel in a region is contingent on the environment, growing season, water and fertility availability, stress resistance, and processing and conversion techniques. In any location, there will be several species grown for biomass.
During the 'Breeding and Genomics of Crops for Bioenergy' symposium Rooney will further highlight his work on developing non-food biomass sorghum varieties specifically for bioenergy. Breeding efforts have already resulted in sorghums with a low-lignin content, high biomass yield, drought-resistance and with the capacity to grow in acid soils (earlier post).
Africa's Green Revolution
Three years after the United Nations called for a Green Revolution in Africa, a renowned group of speakers will share the promise of fighting hunger in Africa through agricultural productivity. They will cover sustainable agriculture, nutrition, environment, markets and policies in the continent during the symposium, 'The African Green Revolution Takes Shape'.
Primary speakers will be Dr. Pedro Sanchez, director of tropical agriculture and senior research scholar at The Earth Institute of Columbia University and Jeffrey Sachs, author of The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time and director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development and professor of health policy and management at Columbia University:
energy :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: agriculture :: agronomy :: poverty :: biotechnology :: sustainability :: Africa ::
Sanchez will open the symposium with his talk, 'The African Green Revolution Moves Forward', focusing on agricultural successes there and how 'smart subsidies' enable the poor to gain access to vital agricultural inputs. He will discuss how Millennium Villages - communities that are voluntarily striving toward a sustainable end to extreme poverty - are drastically improving food production and agribusiness, including the production of bioenergy. These accomplishments raise questions about U.S. food aid policy as shipping food is more expensive than raising crops locally.
In his talk, 'The Economics of the African Green Revolution', Sachs will draw on his work to end world poverty and hunger in discussing effective strategies for progress in Africa. Currently, he is special advisor to United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. From 2002 to 2006, he was director of the UN Millennium Project, charged with creating an action plan to end poverty, hunger and disease worldwide.
Also speaking at the symposium will be Patrick Kabambe of the Malawian Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Amadou Niang of the Millennium Development Goals Center, Philip Thornton of the International Livestock Research Institute, and Akin Adesina of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and Rockefeller Foundation.
The ASA, CSSA and SSSA are educational organizations helping their 11,000+ members advance the disciplines and practices of agronomy, crop and soil sciences by supporting professional growth and science policy initiatives, and by providing quality, research-based publications and a variety of member services.
References:
Eurekalert: The race for biofuels driving alternative sources of biomass - October 26, 2007.
Eurekalert: Now is Africa's turn for a green revolution, global experts say - October 26, 2007.
Article continues
posted by Biopact team at 3:54 PM 0 comments links to this post