China imports huge volumes of ethanol

New York

RECENT news from China makes depressing reading for commodities producers, with a slowing economy, tumbling stock prices and a currency devaluation all signalling weaker demand.

There is one exception: the world's second biggest economy has begun importing ethanol in volumes big enough to stir hopes that it might herald an opening of a major, until now barely accessible, market. "If it becomes constant, that's big news. China's a place where everyone looks and says, 'what if'," said Jordan Fife, a merchant with BioUrja Trading LLC in Houston.