China boosting its ethanol production 500,000 tons in 2018

In China, Reuters reports that ethanol production could increase by half a million metric tons this year as part of the country’s ramp up to an E10 blending mandate in 2020 with an eye on 5 million tons of production within the next five years. Higher margins are helping to boost interest in ethanol production and corn processing, with 12% crushing margins seen in 2017, up 3% on the year. An additional 10% of corn processing capacity helped increase corn processing 17% to 62.5 million tons last year.