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Top govt official defends nation's biofuel thrust

By Fu Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-09 10:54

China's support to biofuel development has not caused the global food price surge, a Chinese official reiterated yesterday while world leaders gathered in Japan to find solutions to rising energy and food prices.

It's the United States that should take the blame for its massive production of fuels from corn and other grains that has pushed up their global prices, said Zeng Xiao'an, a deputy department director of the Ministry of Finance.

"Our scale (of fuel produced from corn) is very small and we have already stopped all new projects," Zeng said in an online chat at the central government's portal.

China's corn-based ethanol production capacity is only 1.3 million tons. But in the US, it's 19.8 million tons. The US plans to produce 110 million tons of biofuel by 2020.

"The US' biofuel strategy has greatly affected the global grain supply," said Zeng.

World food prices started to rise in 2002 and have accelerated in the past few years, especially since last August. International grain prices soared 42 percent in 2007 alone. To solve the crisis, the World Bank has said developed countries should reduce the amount of grain being used for fuel and increase grain aid to regions worst hit by the food crisis.

China is 95 percent self-sufficient in grain and all the corn used to make ethanol in four factories is raised by its own farmers.

With such a large population, China will not develop biofuel at the cost of grain security, said Zeng, adding the government will strictly implement its policy of not approving new biofuel projects involving grains.

But Zeng said the central government will offer financial support for development of biofuel from agricultural waste, such as wheat straw, corn stalks, animal feces and non-grain farm produce.

Every year, China produces about 700 million tons of agricultural straw and 3 billion tons of animal waste. It also has about 100 million hectares unsuitable for growing grain but which can be used to cultivate plants for fuel production.

The country has long been encouraging farmers to dig biogas pools. Generally, Chinese farmers recycle crop straws, grass, husk and animal dung and use it as biogas. This produces organic and environmentally friendly fertilizer.

Some 26 million households in the country's rural areas were using methane for cooking and heating by the end of last year. Another 5 million households will do so this year.

The country produced 750,000 tons of bio-ethanol last year and is scheduled to boost output to 5 million tons by 2010, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.