News from Asia
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This page has news from Asia, news articles may also appear on the Country's pages.
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Contents |
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China
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Government press releases/statements
- Use of renewable resources enhanced 13 November 2006, "China will launch a raft of measures to boost the development of its bioenergy and biochemical industry."
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General news
- Biofuels eat into China's food stocks - 21 December 2006 from Asia Times Online. China has clamped down on the use of corn and other edible grains for producing biofuels due to concerns that it will impact on food security.
- China Clean Energy outlines plan to expand biodiesel capacity using palm oil leavings as a feedstock (go to story) - 18 December 2006 from Biofuel Review.
- China halts expansion of corn-based ethanol industry to arrest food price rise (go to story) - 20 December 2006 from newKerala.com.
- China looking to expand non-grain biofuels, 18 December 2006, AFP, reported that the government has initiated "pilot programs for farmers to plant non-grain crops as raw materials for biofuels. The crops, including sweet sorghum and cassava "will be planted on lands that are unfit for grain production" in Shangdong Province and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
- The article quoted Yang Jian, a director at the Ministry of Agriculture, as saying "We have a principle with regard to biofuel: it should neither be at the cost of foodgrains for people's consumption nor should it compete with grain crops for cultivated land."
- Biofuel increasing China's corn imports 1 December 2006 from Interfax China. China could become a net corn importer in a few years as a result of strong demand from ethanol production.
- $8.5m UN/Chinese programme to develop biofuel production in western China 30 November 2006 from Biofuelreview.com. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) project aims to create a market forJatropha Curcas and use green technologies to reduce poverty and improve fragile ecosystems among ethnic minorities in western China. *China to Subsidize and Protect Bioenergy Industry 30 November 2006 from Biopact
- China to boost bio-energy use 18 November 2006 from Xinhua English.
- China to issue policies regulating ethanol industry 27 November 2006 from China Climate Change Info-net.
- China's oil giants explore green fuels 28 November 2006 from China Climate Change Info-net.
- Company launches major forestry and biofuel project in China 14 November 2006 from biopact.com. Carbon Positive, has secured and has begun planting 266,000 hectares of land for reforestation and biofuel crops (including jatropha).
- By 2010 50% consumption of Ethanol-gasoline blend in China 13 November 2006 from the People's Daily Online.
- New announcements for China's biofuel policy12 November 2006 from Biopact.com. Measures include granting subsidies to bioenergy-producing companies when international crude oil prices fall below their production costs for an extended period.
- China forecasts 18 million tonnes biofuel use by 2010 6 November 2006 from China Climate Change Info-net.
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India
- Reliance to sell biofuel 1 February 2007 from Earthtimes.org. Reliance Industries, a major energy company, will start selling jatropha biodiesel through its distribution network next year.
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Indonesia
- Indonesian power plants start using biofuel to cut costs 2 December 2006 from Xinhua News Agency. Indonesia's state-owned power firm Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) will start using biofuel, pure plant oil (ppo) from oil palm and other feedstocks, to fire 114 small- and medium-scale power plants around the country beginning next year.
- West Java, Indonesia Farmers to Produce Cassava for Ethanol 1 December 2006, from biopact. Farmers will cooperate with South Korean firm LBL Network Co Ltd and be assisted by the West-Java provincial authorities. Subang, Indramayu, Sumedang and Kuningan district will make 50,000 hectares of land available to grow cassava, in exchange for a beneficial supply contract.
- Indonesia Building Tens of Biofuel plants, including micro-sized facilities, November 7, 2006 from biopact.com. The Indonesian government has dropped plans to build several centralized biodiesel plants and "has instead chosen to decentralise biodiesel production based on jatropha, in 54 micro-sized plants, spread across the country".
- Indonesia ranked 3rd for greenhouse gas emissions 6 November 2006 from the Jakarta Post (requires free registration). "Indonesia has jumped to third place from 21st behind the United States and China as the world's top contributor of greenhouse gasses because of its clearing and burning of peatland areas". Emissions reached 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide a year -- almost a 10th of world greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. Indonesia emits 6.5 times as much CO2 from degraded peatlands as it does by burning fossil fuels every year, while it produces more gases than all the efforts of western countries to reduce. The peatlands are burned to make way for oil palm plantations among other uses.
- Comparing the Effect of Palm and Jatropha Biodiesel in a Diesel Engine November 3, 2006, from greencarcongress.com. "Researchers at Indonesia’s Institut Teknologi Bandung have compared the effects and performance of biodiesel fuels derived from two different feedstocks of importance to that country—palm oil and jatropha—in a direct-injection diesel engine."
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Japan
- Nippon Oil hopes to slash domestic biofuel costs 16 January 2007 from Reuters. "Japan's top oil refiner Nippon Oil Corp. hopes to more than halve domestic ethanol production costs over the next ten years through research into biomass ethanol"
- *Brazil's Petrobas and Mitsui Finalize Plans on Ethanol exports to Japan from 2010 11 December 2006 from Greencarcongress
- Don't use biofuels to power farm industry 26 November, 2006 editorial from the Yomiuri Shinbun. The editorial critizes the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry aim to increase in about 15 years the annual domestic production of bioethanol to about 10 percent of the nation's current annual gasoline consumption, as unrealistic.
- Nippon Oil, Toyota to develop biofuel by the Yomiuri Shinbun. Nippon Oil Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. "are to jointly develop a new diesel fuel made from palm oil, in conjunction with the Malaysian state-run petroleum company Petronas."
- Japanese NGOs Appeal to Gov't for Sustainable Biofuel Use by Japan for Sustainability reports that five Japanese NGOs, including FoE Japan and the Global Environmental Forum, and 13 individuals issued a statement calling on government agencies to take "measures to secure sustainable biomass fuel resources."
- Japan to More Than Double Biodiesel Fuel Production in 4 Years by Japan for Sustainability The Ministry of the Environment has set the target "of increasing domestic production of biodiesel fuel to 10,000 - 15,000 kiloliters per year by fiscal 2010." At least 102 Japanese municipalities are planning to grow rapeseed for biodiesel.
- Biomass Mark Labeling Starts by JFS, reported that on 1 August 2006, "The Japan Organics Recycling Association launched the 'Biomass Mark' labeling program, which evaluates and certifies products using biomass resources."
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Malaysia
- Nippon Oil, Toyota and Petronas to develop Palm-oil biodiesel October 23, 2006 from Biopact.
- Biofuel to boost palm oil prices, 14 August 2006, by Fin24, reports that Malaysia's Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister stated that biofuel "had created new demand for palm oil which is currently enjoying prices of 1,600 ringgit ($436) per tonne" and that "the first palm biodiesel plant...commenced production and would be officially launched in southern Johor state". [1]
- Grumble in the Jungle June 18th 2006 from the Observer. Palm oil plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia threaten orangutans with extinction.
- Grumble in the wrong Jungle June 23, 2006 letter to the editor of the Observer from the Malaysian Palm Oil Council correcting "misrepresentation[s] of the current state of the palm oil industry and efforts taken to protect wildlife, particularly in Malaysia"
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Myanmar/Burma
- Yoma to venture into bio-diesel in Myanmar October 31, 2006 from the The Business Times Singapore. "Property developer Yoma Strategic Holdings - which recently became the first Myanmar play on the Singapore Exchange - already has plans to go into the bio-diesel industry in Myanmar. Mr Pun said that Yoma hopes to venture into the upstream part of bio-fuel production by developing a jatropha curcas plantation in Myanmar."
- 5 September 2006 Biodiesel in Burma: A friendly Alternative?from Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N.) and www.narinjara.com. The military junta in Burma (Myanmar) has begun implementing a plan to convert 7,000,000 acres of land to jatropha cultivation by 2009. The decisions was put into force without any prior announcement and many farmers were reportedly being forced to plant the crop. The government's ability to actually produce biodiesel at that scale is also in doubt as "economic sanctions mean that Burma, unlike India, lacks the financial and technical support of foreign companies like BP so necessary to the success of a venture of this magnitude". However, the article reported that "In Chin state, the death penalty is already in place for anyone daring to criticize the policy on Jatropha."
- Myanmar leapfrogs to oil independence through biofuels program - questions about human rights remain August 13, 2006 from Biopact.
- Myanmar aims to substitute oil imports with nutsJuly 27, 2006 from Reuters.
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The Philippines
- Betting fortunes in the Philippines on biofuel boom 4 December 2006 from the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Chemrez Technologies Inc. is hoping that demand for alternative fuel, especially biodiesel, will grow rapidly in coming years. The company recently shifted its focus from producing industrial chemicals to the production of biodiesel with coconut oil as its main raw material. Although coconut oil is the second most expensive type of additive at about $617 per metric ton on the world market, just slightly lower than rapeseed oil's $669/MT and substantially more than the cheapest type, palm oil, at only $442/MT, it can increase fuel efficiency by "anywhere from 5 percent to 25 percent". The coconut oil additive in the diesel fuel helps it burn faster, more efficiently, and at lower temperatures, making fuel combustion easier. The company hopes that cost-saving from increased mileage will offset the higher prices.
- Philippines Conference Committee OKS Biofuels Act 24 November, 2006 from the Philippine Daily Inquirer. A congressional bicameral conference committee yesterday approved the proposed Biofuels Act of 2006 which requires the use of clean alternative fuels. The bill will now be sent to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for her signature. Within two years from the effectivity of the law, gasoline fuel should contain at least 5 percent bioethanol, which would be increased to 10 percent four years after the law is passed. A minimum of 1 percent biodiesel would be blended into all diesel engine fuels, which would increase to 2% after two years.
- Philippine's biofuels project gets P$1 billion funding 9 November 2006 from the Manila Standard. "A P1-billion fund has been earmarked for the development of the biofuel industry, using jatropha (tubang bakod) as a fuel source. The Philippine National Oil Company Petrochemicals Corp. and the National Development Co. will each contribute P500 million to the project"
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Thailand
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