China will shift its dependence from corn to sorghum, cassava and
sweet potato plants to make bio-fuel in the next five years.
Part of the
government's efforts to develop bio-fuel without harming general food supply and
security, the shift will ensure a healthy supply of corn both as food and
fodder .
Cassava and sweet
potato both are high-yield plants,
and though edible, they are not used as staple food. So their use as raw
material, as opposed to that of corn, won't create any artificial shortage of
food products.
Xiong Bilin, deputy director of the National Development
and Reform Commission's (NDRC) industry department, told China Daily that the
conversion of the four major ethanol production centers, which have a combined
output of 1 million tons, will neither be too complicated nor costly.
The
four plants, along with the newly approved ones, will use the plants of sorghum,
cassava and sweet potato that scientists have recommended as corn
substitutes.
The country's efforts to fight global warming will soon get
another boost with the largest ethanol production facility getting the green
light, said the official with the country's top economic planner.
The
facility in Hengshui in Hebei Province is expected to yield 300,000 tons of
bio-fuel, mainly from sweet potato, every year.
The authorities are also
likely to approve another ethanol-making facility. The unit in Jingmen, Hubei
Province, can make 200,000 tons of ethanol from sweet potato plants each
year.
China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs (COFCO) will be the
major investor in both the projects.
China wants to increase its ethanol
production from 1 million tons a year to 2 million tons in 2010, and 10 million
tons by 2020. "Meeting the 2010 target should not be a problem," Xiong
said.
The existing four corn-based facilities have already been joined
by a cassava-based unit in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region that can
produce 200,000 tons of ethanol per year.
COFCO owns the Guangxi facility, too,
which got the authorities' approval last year before going into
operation.
Considering the rising prices of corn and the threat to food
security, the State Council, or the country's cabinet, ordered the bio-fuel
industry to shift from food to non-food material in mid-June.
Xiong,
however, stressed that irrespective of the raw material used, the country will
continue its shift from fossil fuel to ethanol to save energy and fight climate
change.
Gas and diesel sold in nine provinces is already mixed with
10 percent ethanol. That means the country's dependence on fossil fuel dropped by
1.3 million tons last year.
But the nationwide demand for fuel is more
than 50 million tons a year. So a lot more ethanol has to be made if ethanol is
to be mixed with fuel throughout the country.
"The country will gradually
replace petroleum with ethanol as the main fuel for its chemical industry,"
Xiong said.
The government is considering offering a 5 percent tax
rebate to ethanol producers, and some financial subsidies both to the producers
and suppliers. For producers, the subsidy is estimated to be more than 1,000
yuan ($130) for every ton of their product.
(China Daily 07/17/2007 page
1)
Vocabulary:
fodder:饲料
high-yield:产量很高的
Questions:
1. Why is the shift
being made away from corn?
2. How many tons of bio-fuel will the facility
in Hengshui yield annually?
3. By how many tons did China's dependence on
fossil fuels drop last year?
Answers:
1. To preserve the supply of corn for food and fodder usage.
2.
300,000.
3. 1.3 million tons.
(英语点津 Linda 编辑)
About the broadcaster:
Matt Doran is an award-winning American newspaper journalist and an
undergraduate student at Albion College. He is currently a polisher for China
Daily Website and is on summer break from Beijing Foreign Studies University,
where he will resume his study of Chinese in the fall.