China ethanol imports surge to highest in nearly a year

China's ethanol imports surged in October to their highest since December last year after rare shipments of the biofuel arrived from Vietnam and Pakistan even as the influx from the United States and Brazil remained low, customs data showed on Friday.
China bought 11,160 cubic metres of ethanol in October, up 837 percent from last year's 1,191 cubic metres and compared with 416 cubic metres in September, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.
The resurgence in arrivals has taken the total for the year to date to 18,464 cubic metres. That is a far cry from the 2016 total of almost 900,000 cubic metres, but a big jump following generally lacklustre shipments after Beijing imposed higher tariffs on ethanol from the United States and Brazil, the world's top exporters, at the start of this year.
Pakistan exported 6,158 cubic metres of the fuel, only the second month this year that the country has shipped to China after a 1-cubic-metre shipment in February. The country sold almost 14,500 cubic metres in 2016 to China.
Vietnam accounted for 4,859 cubic metres of arrivals, only the third month this year that it has sold ethanol to China. That is more than the country sold to the world's second-largest economy for all of 2016.
Analysts said it was not clear why the two Asian countries had suddenly resumed selling to China.
Imports from the United States and Brazil were still at a trickle due to the tariffs, the data showed. Traders say dealmaking may pick up in the coming months as low US prices make it profitable to sell to China again even with the hefty import penalties.
Meanwhile, the country's ethanol exports in October climbed 66.3 percent year from a year ago to 5,190 cubic metres, the data showed, with North Korea making up the majority of the total. Japan bought 1,430 cubic metres. Imports of distillers grains (DDGS), a byproduct of ethanol production used as an animal feed ingredient, fell 97.4 pct to 3,527 tonnes in October, the data showed.
Data for December may show a pick up after Beijing said earlier this month it would remove the value-added tax on imports of the animal feed ingredient from December 20.