China last year produced about 920,000 tonnes of ethanol and it plans to boost the production to nearly 4 million tonnes by 2010, according to a US Agriculture Department attache report.

As part of China’s current biofuel development policies, it aims to meet 15 per cent of the country’s transportation energy needs this way by 2020, said the report.
“Presently biofuels are approximately one million tonnes. China’s policy objectives are to produce 12 million tonnes of biofuels, including ethanol and biodiesel, annually by 2020, pushing it up to 15 per cent of the nation’s transportation fuel use,” the report said.
China, the world’s third largest ethanol producer after the US and Brazil, is trying to cut its dependence on imported oil. In late 2006, China will release implementation plans of the biofuels component of its 2006-2010 planning period, the report said.
Implementation questions include whether China sets a national target for ethanol in its national energy mix, it noted.