"While America thunders down the road of corn ethanol, China had the good sense to pull back."

China's ethanol binge and corn hangover

While America thunders down the road of corn ethanol, China had the good sense to pull back.

The Chinese initiative was, at first a carbon-copy of the American program.
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In 2008, China - traditionally a net exporter of corn - became an importer.

In a situation of spiking inflation, grain, and corn prices, the government put on the breaks, forbidding the construction of new corn ethanol capacity, effectually capping Chinese corn ethanol capacity at 1.6 million tpy - despite the National Resources Defense Council's stated desire to achieve utilization of 20 million tons of ethanol in gasoline by 2020.