China: Balance food supply and bio-energy

According to information released Saturday from a high-level energy conference in Beijing, the central government has already decided to halt approval of any new facilities to convert corn into ethanol, a bio-fuel substitute for gasoline.

Instead, the country will concentrate on bio-energy technologies based on non-grain materials that do not compete with food. If that report is confirmed, this marks a big step forward even from where China was at the end of last year.
Last November China’s corn price was steeply rising, due to the demand from various bio-fuel projects – some approved by the central government and some unapproved.

In a chain reaction, half a year later, the higher price for corn, a major animal feed, caused pork prices to rise throughout China.

In the meantime, from the last few months of 2006 to May – although the May figures are still to be officially released – the economy has been facing a new cycle of inflation, driven mainly by food prices.

Some countries do not have to balance food supplies and bio-energy. They have massive farmland for growing bio-fuel crops. But what happens in China is an illustration of a problem faced by most developing countries, namely the need to maintain a balance between food and bio-energy.

This is ultimately a balance between economic development and the environment.

Xinhua