China Decides: We'll Eat The Corn, We Won't Drive It

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Chinese motorists are spared the joy of ethanol. In China, corn will continue to be eaten, not driven. China’s state news agency Xinhua reports that agricultural experts decided that it is “too early for China to adopt corn-based ethanol fuel to feed automobiles, given the expensive production costs and the country’s large population.” The short version is: “Ethanol? Bu yao!” (No want.)

Li Xinhua, a professor at Shenyang Agricultural University, said that massive production of corn ethanol could threaten China’s food security.

“I think the time for massive production of corn ethanol will only arrive when China’s corn output doubles,” he said. Translation: When hell freezes over.

China is feeling a triple whammy of floods, drought, and arable land eaten up by urban sprawl. China needs to keep the price of corn down to feed people, not cars.

A few weeks ago, petroleum refiners asked to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s top economic planner, to halt any corn-to-ethanol projects.

Zhang Yafei, an analyst with Cinda Securities Co., said to produce one tonne of ethanol fuel will consume nearly three tonnes of corns at a cost of at least 8,000 yuan ($1,176), while 93 grade gasoline sells for 7,750 yuan ($1,140) per tonne on the market. Chinese know their math.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Invisible Invisible on Aug 23, 2010

    Corn-cob Mafia. LOL, that's good! Because it's true.

  • Potemkin Potemkin on Aug 23, 2010

    Proof once more that the USA has the best government money can buy. Unfortunately it's the taxpayers who get stuck with the big bills.

  • GS650G GS650G on Aug 23, 2010

    Westerners tend to think of Chinese as a bunch of hicks who don't know any better. Apparently they can add and the math behind what it takes to run corn in a car doesn't add up on an abacus. They are often better capitalists than we are. Maybe it's because they don't have a corn lobby. It's been said you make ethanol by mixing corn with tax dollars. Let's turn off the tap and see of home grown fuel can stand on it's own for a change.

  • Niky Niky on Aug 23, 2010

    China doesn't eat as much corn... but they still eat it... and they use corn as feed for their animals. In this sense, you can use corn ethanol... extract the ethanol and sell the corn as feed. But they don't have enough land and farmers to meet demand. And again, the only way of convincing the rest of the farmers to keep feeding people is to raise food prices... even if technically, food prices shouldn't be affected and there's enough land to do both. stationwagon I wish we had a non-partisan and very powerful, common sense lobby. I'll vote for that.

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