China November ethanol imports second highest this year

China bought 6,466 cubic metres of ethanol in November, second highest this year, with shipments from Pakistan continuing to arrive and dominate the trade, customs data showed on Tuesday. Almost all of the shipments - 6,449 cubic metres - were from Pakistan. It was the third month this year that the country has shipped ethanol to China, the data showed.
Pakistan shipped 6,158 cubic-metre of the fuel in October, after a 1 cubic-metre-shipment in February. The country sold almost 14,500 cubic metres in 2016 to China. China's November ethanol imports overall were down 90.9 percent from the same month a year ago, and down 42 percent from October's 11,160 cubic metres.
Imports from the United States and Brazil were still at a trickle, the data showed, likely due to higher tariffs imposed on those shipments. Meanwhile, China's November ethanol exports rose 135.2 pct from the same month a year earlier to 6,359 cubic metres, with North Korea taking more than half of the volumes.
North Korea bought 3,428 cubic metres of the biofuel, up 81.97 percent from October, while the Philippines bought 2,076 cubic metres. China's imports of distillers grains, a byproduct of ethanol production used as an animal feed ingredient, fell 96.4 pct from a year earlier to 5,857 tonnes in November, the data showed.
Beijing said last month it would remove the value-added tax on distillers grains imports from December 20.