ADM Chief Sees Opportunity for U.S. Ethanol in China

China's plan to move to a 10% blend of ethanol into its gasoline supply will be a boon for U.S. ethanol exports, said ADM Chief Executive Juan Luciano.

Agrimoney says Luciano told investors that China could need imports of 8 million tons a year by 2020 to satisfy the E10 target because of the nation's longer-term fuel strategy.

The E10 target is likely to be satisfied at first by corn ethanol, he said, but China aims to rely heavily on advanced, or cellulosic, ethanol from 2025. Cellulosic ethanol is made from grass, crop debris, and woody plants. Luciano said Chinese companies were unlikely to build expensive corn ethanol plants to produce a product that would soon be superseded. Agrimoney quoted Luciano as saying, "It's going to create a bigger ethanol market that every now and then… we're going to export to, like we've being doing to Brazil."

Ethanol shipments to China fell nearly to zero this year following a reinstatement of a 30% duty on the biofuel, supplied mainly by Brazil and the U.S.