China eases E10 mandate due to lack of affordable feedstock

In China, ICIS reports that the closely watched E10 policy has been eased due to the lack of available feedstock at low prices. The country’s ethanol push is founded on using up excess old corn that is no longer fit for human consumption, but those supplies are shrinking. Only 15 of 31 Chinese provinces have achieved ethanol blending at some level, let alone the full E10. As such, ethanol production only reached 3 million metric tons of ethanol in 2020 despite 4 million tons of installed capacity. Demand was also hit last year by the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns.