Following an implementation plan of National Reform commission and several ministries, Tianjin and Shandong have issued implementation plans for promoting ethanol gasoline. Ethanol gasoline is cleaner than traditional gasoline and will ease air pollution. According to the program, key areas for prevention and control of air pollution such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and their surroundings will gradually shift to ethanol gasoline in 2018 and will be fully covered in 2019. By 2020, China will basically achieve a full coverage of vehicle ethanol gasoline. However, there remains an ethanol gasoline supply gap. The 13th Five-Year Plan of the Energy Bureau proposes that the output of fuel ethanol in China will reach 4 million tons by 2020, an increase of 54% over the current figure, not enought to fill the current demand gap of nearly 9.4 million tons of ethanol. Expansion of ethanol production capacity is essential, while the import policy may also be changed, e. g., by reducing the import tariff on fuel ethanol.
China Bio news release, December 11, 2017