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China reportedly suspends nationwide E10 mandate

The head of the Renewable Fuels Association says a report that China has suspended the rollout of its E10 ethanol mandate is not completely unexpected.

Geoff Cooper tells Brownfield the Chinese don’t have the domestic capacity or import volumes needed to get to E10 nationwide in 2020.

“So it wasn’t totally unexpected or surprising news. And what it doesn’t mean is that China is walking away from ethanol.”

He says RFA is confident even without a requirement being enforced, China will continue to increase its discretionary blending of ethanol because of its lower cost and environmental benefits.

“The headline is negative, but we think we’re going to continue to see progress in increasing demand in China. And we’re very hopeful that will be further facilitated by inclusion of ethanol in the phase one trade deal that we expect to be announced next week.”

Cooper says China consumes about 40 billion gallons of gasoline annually, and just three percent of that is currently comprised of ethanol.  If the country were to require E10 nationwide, he says that would generate around four billion gallons of ethanol demand.