China: Biofuels Annual
Link to report:
China has unofficially suspended its goal (established 2017) to implement a nationwide E10 mandate by the end of 2020. With the world’s fastest growing gasoline fuel pool, limited ethanol production capacity, and a recent drop in corn stocks and corresponding rising corn prices, the government rollout of the mandate has stalled and cannot be achieved. Ethanol production capacity has continued to expand since 2017, but even operating at full capacity, the average blending rate would not exceed 4 percent (E4) this year. In the wake of the E10 suspension, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly lowered gasoline consumption in the first half of 2020, while ethanol production capacity shifted from fuel to medical grade ethanol, further driving down the blend rate. Fuel ethanol production and consumption for 2020 are expected to drop as will the average blend rate. Biodiesel policy support remains mostly absent beyond a limited program in Shanghai.
