Sinopec pulls back from E10 sales in the east as corn prices soar

In China, Bloomberg reports that increased demand for corn as animal feed for pigs has led to an ethanol shortage that has seen Sinopec pull back from E10 in the eastern region where the ethanol blend had taken its strongest hold. Although there have been questions regarding Beijing’s intentions to continue with its E10 plans or put them on hold definitely, forcing businesses to also reign in their plans until the policy horizon is clearer, Sinopec had seen good uptake of E10 in the east. But as pig herds recover from the African swine flu outbreak that decimated the industry earlier in the year, corn prices are expected to rise higher and keep the breaks on ethanol production.