More biofuel support needed in Vietnam

Since E5 became commercially available in Vietnam almost 12 months ago, the numbers of sales are below expected volumes. Now, experts are calling for more support to be given to the nation's biofuel manufacturers and traders.

In 2010 PV Oil was selling the 5% ethanol blend from 30 petrol stations and at the end of the year shifted 4.2 million litres of the fuel. However, according to the deputy head of the oil trading department at PV Oil Nguyen Thi Dieu Hanh, this figure remained the same during the first five months of 2011, despite having increased the number of petrol stations to 50.

Phan Dang Tuat, head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Industrial Strategic and Policy Research Institute, believes the government needs to implement some regulations that will enhance investment in the sector. The failure to apply such mandates could result in a continuing lack of demand for E5.

According to Le Duong Quang, the deputy minister of Industry and Trade, the ministry is to encouraging the production and consumption of biofuel and will continue to do so in the future.

An additional 295,000 tonnes of biofuel will be produced each year by the end of 2011, the ministry says, as four projects are due to come online by then. Between 2010 and 2015 Vietnam is expected to produce 150,000 tonnes of biofuel, before ramping up capacity and reaching 1.8 million tonnes by 2015.