China Dumps E-10 Plan on Eve of Agreement

BEIJING, CHINA – As leaders prepare to sign a Phase One trade agreement this week in Washington, DC, both the corn and ethanol industries in the U.S. are expressing disappointment with an announcement by China to suspend its plan to increase biofuel usage. The nationwide plan announced in 2017, was to increase gasoline blends to 10 percent ethanol this year. According to Reuters however, the reversal came following a sharp decline in Chinese corn stocks. Originally, the Chinese government wanted to reform its corn industry and was dealing with huge domestic corn stocks. In addition, China was expected to increase imports of U.S. ethanol after the trade agreement is signed on Wednesday. The future of ethanol exports to China is now unclear.