China: Biofuels Annual
China’s race to improve air quality is emerging as the major driver for expanded fuel ethanol production and use. Despite public announcements from more than a dozen Chinese central government ministries and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, China’s ethanol policy in 2019 remains a patchwork of provincial and municipal-level policies. Meanwhile, China’s central and provincial authorities have not renewed subsidies for ethanol production. Without clear incentives and enforceable compliance measures, China’s ethanol industry will struggle to raise the level of biofuels use in transportation fuels to meet China’s E10 goal by 2020. As a result of restrictive ethanol investment and trade policies, Post estimates a 2.5 percent blend rate in 2019, a near recovery to blend rates achieved 10 years ago. China will most likely achieve a blend rate of 3.0 to 3.5 percent by 2020. Biodiesel remains neglected except for a limited program in Shanghai.
