CHINA: High on Ethanol Despite Rising Food Prices

IPS News
By Antoaneta Bezlova

BEIJING, Apr 24 (IPS) - Studies debunking the environmental benefits of ethanol have made little impression in this country, which is betting on bio-fuels as the green answer to coal and oil to help clear its increasingly smog-filled skies.

But even as the ethanol dream survives unscathed, economic realities of surging food prices and global inflation are beginning to bite.

Prices for non-grain feedstock as cassava promoted here as a safe alternative to the conversion of precious corn into ethanol fuel are quickly rising.

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