Japan slashes 2020 domestic ethanol targets source

Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has revised sharply lower its ambitious plans to hike the country’s mid-term domestic ethanol production capacity, a government source told Platts. The new target is around 700,000 kiloliters per year by 2020, down by roughly 80% from the earlier target, the source said. The ministry revised its plans after realizing it would be impossible to reach the original target, first announced in 2007, due to higher-than-expected technological development costs of cellulosic ethanol, coupled with low availability of biomass feed stocks in the country. (March 9, 2010)