Pakistan’s competition commission calls for alternatives to wheat straw for power due to scarcity

In Pakistan, the Tribune newspaper reports that the national competition commission has ordered an end to the use of wheat straw as feedstock for power generation because the demand for use in biofuel has led to a shortage that is in turn negatively impacting the pulp and paper industry that relies on wheat straw as feedstock as well as boosting the price of meat and dairy that it use it for animal feed. Instead, the commission said sugarcane bagasse, rice straw, cotton stalk or other biomass should be used.