China’s imports of methanol surged to 591,222 mt in February, according to latest statistics from Chinese Customs.
     This monthly figure is the highest since Platts began tracking China’s methanol import statistics from Chinese Customs in 2000, and market sources said it was likely a record high for the third month in a row.
     The earlier record was in January 2009 and December 2008 when China
imported 403,406 mt and 361,670 mt, respectively — and before that it was
January 2001 when China imported 211,156 mt.
     China imported a total of 1.43 million mt in 2008, which was an increase
of 70% from the 2007.
     Compared with February 2008, imports have surged a whopping 2,876%, as
imports had only totaled only 19,897 mt in that month.
     The biggest volume of methanol imports in February 2009 came from Saudi
Arabia, which exported a whopping 261,380 mt to China.
     A far distant number two was Iran (68,930 mt), followed by Oman (64,535
mt), Malaysia (56,416 mt), Qatar (48,663 mt), New Zealand (42,442 mt), and
Chile (35,008 mt), according to the statistics.
     Weak demand for methanol in Japan — whose supplies are virtually all
contractual-based — had led to accumulated inventory in that country. Part of
that seems to have been re-exported to China, something unheard of in the
past, although the volume was small around at 3,913 mt, the statistics showed.
     Methanol imports have been flowing into China as the market there was
able to pay the highest spot prices in Asia.
     In February 2009, the average methanol spot prices in China had been the
highest in Asia at $193.30-194.55/mt, compared with $186.75-187.75/mt in South
Korea, and $162.50-164.25/mt in Southeast Asia.
     Methanol imports surged towards the end of last year because out of
China’s 12-14 million mt/year methanol capacity, the average operating rate
was between 50% and 70% due to weak margins since November last year, with
many of the smaller and mid-sized plants shut, according to industry
estimates.
     China has close to 200 methanol producers, many of them small and using
coal gas as feedstock.
     Outside China, methanol is almost always produced using natural gas,
which is typically cheaper than gas produced from coal.
     With domestic ex-tank methanol prices in China below Yuan 2,000/mt (or
$230/mt on an import parity basis) since end-October, many of the domestic
producers were forced to slash operating rates drastically or shut completely
as they need ex-tank methanol prices around Yuan 2,000-2,500/mt for margins to
remain viable.
     Nevertheless, currently domestic prices in the benchmark eastern China
market were hovering around Yuan 1,975-2,000/mt, indicating that although
domestic prices have increased, for many producers it was still not attractive
enough to boost their methanol output.
–Anton Ferkov, anton_ferkov@platts.com

SINGAPORE- China, the world’s top greenhouse gas polluter, has passed a milestone in the number of U.N.-backed clean energy projects, with the world body approving more than 500 such schemes so far.

China has the highest number of such projects, which yield tradable carbon credits for investors in wind farms, solar power, small hydro, biomass or cleaning up planet-warming industrial gases.

The scheme, called the clean development mechanism (CDM), is part of the Kyoto Protocol climate pact and aims to help developing countries shift to low-carbon economies and also help rich nations offset their emissions by buying the carbon credits.

Each offset, called a certified emission reduction (CER), represents a tonne of greenhouse gas pollution saved from being emitted.

As of late Monday, China now has 501 such projects registered, followed by India at 411 and Brazil with 156. Globally, the United Nations has approved 1,539.

Many of China’s registered projects are in hydro and wind power, with others designed to capture methane from coal mines, landfills and agricultural waste.

Hundreds more Chinese projects are in the pipeline awaiting formal approval by the United Nations.

To date, approved Chinese CDM projects have been issued with 119,400,810 CERs, representing more than 40 percent of the total issued to date globally by the United Nations, but still a fraction of China’s overall greenhouse gas emissions.

CERs last traded in London on Monday at 10.04 euros ($13.30) a tonne.

(Reporting by David Fogarty; Editing by Michael Urquhart)

China and India called on wealthier countries to accept numerical cuts of greenhouse-gas emissions at United Nations climate talks, a change in policy for the new U.S. team of negotiators.

The world is running out of time to tackle global warming and needs pledges by industrialized countries to release less carbon dioxide, Chinese negotiator Yu Qingtai told delegates meeting today in Bonn.

“Looking at the clock ticking away, the central task is the establishment of commitments” for developed nations to stem heat-trapping emissions, Yu said at the first full day of talks.

Delegates from 175 nations are looking to the U.S. to provide leadership after President Barack Obama sent a team led by special envoy Todd Stern that is ready to “make up for lost time.” Stern, without proposing numerical climate targets, told delegates yesterday that “stalemate is not an option.”

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Bonn-based organizer of the talks, aims to broker a new climate-protection treaty in Copenhagen by December through four rounds of talks that must close gaps between the positions of industrialized and developing nations.

“I hope we don’t get into a situation where everyone’s playing chicken, waiting for someone else to make an offer first,” Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN agency, said in an interview before the start of talks. “In my world Copenhagen is six weeks away, because we have got three two-week sessions of negotiating time left before Copenhagen and there’s still a lot of ground to be covered,” de Boer said.

Obama Stance

Delegates from India, South Africa and Brazil also said little time is left to negotiate a new agreement and demanded firm reductions from richer nations including the U.S. and Japan. China is the biggest greenhouse-gas producer, followed by the U.S., according to U.S. Energy Department data on Bloomberg.

The U.S. did not immediately respond to calls for limits.

President Obama has previously set a goal to cut emissions of carbon dioxide, the main gas blamed for global warming, by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. He supports a cap-and-trade system that would set limits on greenhouse-gas emissions and let companies trade pollution allowances on a market.

While Obama has pledged greater emissions cuts than his predecessor, George W. Bush, the reductions fall short of what’s needed to tackle the problem, China’s lead negotiator, Su Wei, said in an interview before the start of talks.

‘Firm’ Policy Wanted

“The U.S. has become more positive than the previous administration: I think they are going in the right direction,” Su said in a telephone interview. “Still, we’re waiting for very firm climate policy from the U.S., including very clear medium-term targets. All of the parties are waiting for that.”

A global climate treaty to reduce CO2 emissions and replace the expiring Kyoto Protocol must focus on later targets, not just 2020 goals, said Stern. The U.S. favors slashing emissions of the heat-trapping gases to 1990 levels by 2020, a reduction below the level that the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says is necessary to avoid dangerous warming.

Many issues remain unresolved, including finding money to help poor countries pay for new, low-carbon energy technology and how to include saving forests, which account for one-fifth of global emissions, in a new agreement, Stern said.

“Greenpeace has done the math and we know the U.S. is capable of making deeper cuts in emissions, faster,” said Meg Boyle, Greenpeace’s climate policy adviser. “Action taken by the U.S. will influence when and at what level global emissions will peak.”

‘Gaps in Game’

Countries including Japan, Russia, Ukraine and Switzerland have yet to pledge emissions reductions for 2020, de Boer said. The European Union has made its most ambitious target — a reduction of the gases by 30 percent in 2020 from 1990 levels — contingent on what other major economies do.

“There are certain gaps in the game, in that the U.S., Japan, Canada and Russia haven’t told us what they’re going to do by 2020,” Michael Zammit Cutajar, who chairs the wider set of UN talks, said in a March 26 telephone interview from Bonn. “The U.S. will have a tremendous impact in raising hopes because it’s a very positive administration we have now.”

The talks are divided into two main strands: signatories to the existing Kyoto Protocol global warming treaty — a group that doesn’t include the U.S., and a wider discussion involving all nations. Chairs of both groups aim to produce negotiating texts by June.

The most substantial decisions on a new treaty aren’t likely to come in Bonn, said Alden Meyer, director of policy at the Washington-based Union of Concerned Scientists.

“Everyone knows the end game’s going to come down to Copenhagen,” Meyer said in interview.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jeremy van Loon in Bonn via jvanloon@bloomberg.net; Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net

Beijing - China and the European Union on Monday signed an agreement to expand their environmental cooperation by creating an Institute of Clean and Renewable Energy. EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng signed the accord while the EU’s top diplomat was visiting Beijing as the European Union seeks to work with China on improving its energy efficiency and implementing more environmentally sound ways to burn coal, from which China gets three-quarters of its electricity.

The European Union is providing 10 million euros (13.3 million dollars) to found the Beijing institute along with the Chinese Commerce and Education ministries.

The institute’s establishment is aimed at implementing China’s energy policies, particularly those concerning renewable energy and energy efficiency, the European Union said.

It is to be run by leading European and Chinese academic institutions and expected to bring together experts on renewable energy.

The institute’s school was expected to take on about 100 students per year.

Climate change was playing an important role in Ferrero-Waldner’s visit to the Chinese capital, and she said the change in the US government was making it easier to talk with the Chinese about the topic.

The previous US administration had been criticized for obstructing anti-global-warming initiatives. China, which along with the US, is the world’s largest greenhouse-gas emitter, had continuously said under former president George W Bush that the countries that had industrialized early had a bigger responsibility to reduce emissions that cause global warming, and insisted Washington take part in initiatives to reduce pollutants.

Ferrero-Waldner welcomed current US President Barack Obama’s invitation to a climate change forum for the world’s major economies as well as his change in policy from his predecessor.

She told reporters that the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate April 27-28 in Washington - which the United States, 16 other major economies and the United Nations are to attend - was a good proposal "in which we recognize the new position of the Obama administration."

BEIJING— China’s energy sector will table a plan to nearly double its 2020 nuclear power capacity goal and is urging firms to acquire uranium abroad to build a fuel reserve, state press said Monday.

The country’s energy administration wants to increase capacity to 75,000 megawatts, up from the 40,000 it had called for in a plan put forward in 2007, the Shanghai Securities News said.

The revised plan will soon be submitted to the State Council, the cabinet, for approval, Cao Shudong, a senior official with the National Energy Administration, told the paper.

The 75,000 megawatt plan was 5,000 megawatts more than previously reported.

China currently has a combined capacity of 9,100 megawatts at 11 nuclear reactors, Cao said, meaning the new plan, if approved, would call for an ambitious programme to construct new plants.

In the past year, China has approved the building of 40 nuclear reactors, Cao said, while the construction of several plants has already started.

China is banking on nuclear power as a cleaner alternative to coal, which currently covers about two thirds of its energy demand.

Chinese companies will also be encouraged to buy overseas uranium mines, as the lack of the resource is increasingly straining the country’s ability to boost nuclear power supply, Cao said.

The reserve system will be built at both government and corporate levels, he added.

China’s energy plans have given new hope to the global nuclear industry, represented by firms such as Areva of France and US-based Westinghouse, while offering a market for uranium suppliers such as Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton.

BONN, Germany- China and other nations hailed U.S. pledges to do more to fight global warming on Monday but OPEC dampened celebrations by predicting that a planned U.N. climate treaty would damage the economies of oil exporters.

"We welcome this positive change in attitude and approach by President (Barack) Obama and his team," China’s climate ambassador, Yu Qingtai, told reporters at U.N. climate talks in Bonn attended by 175 nations.

The Obama administration made its U.N. climate debut at the start of the 11-day meeting on Sunday, promising to cut U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases by between 16 and 17 percent, or back to 1990 levels, by 2020 — far more ambitious than goals set by former President George W. Bush.

Yu said China, which many experts say has overtaken the United States as top greenhouse gas emitter, would slow the growth of its emissions by 2020 as part of a new U.N. pact to be agreed in Copenhagen at the end of 2009.

"The U.S. is glad to be back in the negotiations. For my part I can assure the delight is mutual," Danish Climate and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard said in a statement.

The U.S. special envoy for climate change, Todd Stern, won praise for saying Washington was strongly committed to a new climate treaty and that Washington had a "unique responsibility" as the top emitter since the Industrial Revolution.

But delegates from OPEC states, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, said a new treaty threatened oil-exporting economies by promoting a shift away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy such as wind or solar power.

HIT EXPORTS

"The shift to a low carbon economy has a clear and deliberate outcome that will adversely impact all developing country fossil fuel exporters," said Ramiro Ramirez of the OPEC Secretariat.

He said that rich nations were urging OPEC to step up exploration and production to stimulate the world economy even as they were planning to turn their backs on oil.

OPEC nations get little sympathy from many delegations at U.N. talks since they are not viewed as among the most vulnerable — compared to the poorest African or Asian states at risk from more droughts, floods or rising sea levels.

But a climate deal has to be agreed by unanimity, making OPEC’s demands as vital as any. OPEC wants measures, for instance, to promote the capture and storage of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, refineries and factories.

Some other developing nations said they were worried that the fight against climate change could have damaging side-effects, for instance penalising their exports by raising the costs of air freight or shipping.

The U.N. Climate Panel says that developed nations would have to cut emissions by between 25 and 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 to avoid the worst of climate change.

But few are planning such deep cuts. The European Union aims to cut emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 — much deeper than Obama’s goal of returning emissions to 1990 levels.

"It’s more clear than ever that the developing countries are impatient and disappointed" that there are no targets to make deep cuts, said Harald Dovland, a Norwegian official who chairs a group looking at future commitments to fight warming.

China’s Yu said that the poor had to put economic growth first and defended Beijing from criticism that it is adding to pollution by opening a coal-fired power plant every few days.

"We have the option of leaving our people in the darkness without electricity, leaving the factories idle and people unemployed, or building up the necessary infrastructure to allow our economy to grow," Yu said.

China strives to accelerate the development of clean energy in the country and aims to have a hydro power generation capacity of 1.9 trillion kw by 2010 and build several large wind power bases each with a generation capacity of up to 10 million kw, said Liu Qi, vice director-general of the National Energy Bureau (NEB), on Thursday.

In 2008, China’s wind power capacity grew 6 million kw, while hydro power generation capacity increased 20.1 million kw to a total of 171 million kw, according to statistics from the NEB.

Liu said earlier at a meeting in Beijing that China will pace up the adjustment of its energy production structure, and increase the ratio of clean energy in energy consumption.

As of the end of 2008, the thermal power generation in China accounted for 80% of its total energy production.

The nation must keep pace with the world’s economies in new energy adoption or the country will lag behind the world within a decade, said China’s top energy official.

Speaking on the sidelines of the recently concluded annual session of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Zhang Guobao, head of the National Energy Administration (NEA), quoted US president Barack Obama’s statement that "the country that harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy will lead the 21st century".

"We should keep a close watch on the development of cutting-edge (new energy) technologies the world over and invest more to improve research and development capabilities," he said.

China is already taking steps to ramp up its green energy industry. The country’s top economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on its website two weeks ago that it has approved construction of two hydropower stations and two wind farms with a total capacity of 20 gW.

The Luding Hydropower Station in Sichuan will consist of four units, each with a 230-megawatt capacity and the Dongjing Hydropower plant in Guizhou province will also consist of four units, each with a 220-megawatt capacity. The two wind farms, the Rudong wind farm in Jiangsu province and Guyuan wind power station in Hebei province, will both have a 100.5-megawatt capacity.

China is also reportedly revising its energy development plans to nearly double its nuclear power capacity in the next decade, official sources said earlier.

The authorities will also start building eight more nuclear power plants in the next three years, with 16 reactors whose total installed capacity will surpass 10 gW, according to NEA.

There are currently 11 nuclear reactors in operation in the country with a combined capacity of about 9 gW, supplying around 1 percent of the country’s energy needs.

NEA head Zhang last year said the country would raise the share of nuclear power in the national energy mix from 4 percent in 2006 to 5 percent by 2020, with a total nuclear power of 40 gW by that year. The revised energy development plan ups the targeted capacity to 70 gW by 2020.

The country also set a higher goal for its wind power industry. Starting this year, China will build several large wind farms over the next 10 years, each with a generating capacity in excess of 10gW, in Gansu, Hebei and Jiangsu provinces, and Inner Mongolia autonomous region, said Shi Lishan, deputy director of the Renewable Energy Department of NEA.

"The country’s wind power capacity will reach 100 gW by 2020," Shi said. Under the previous plan China’s wind power was set to hit 30 gW by 2020.

Zhang said at a meeting on the nation’s energy strategy in February that the country’s current oversupply of electricity offers a good opportunity to solve chronic problems in the energy sector, such as reliance on thermal power and high environmental costs.

"China should speed up its effort to improve energy mix," Zhang said.

China currently relies on coal-fired plants for about 80 percent of its total energy needs.

In its power industry investment forecast published on Feb 14, the China Electricity Council (CEC), a government-backed industry association, said more of this year’s investment in power generation would go to the renewable energy sectors. Investment in the power sector may total 650 billion yuan this year, with 46 percent of it used in power generation and the rest assigned to build and upgrade power grids.

Statistics released by the China Electricity Council (CEC) early last month showed that investment in wind power and nuclear power infrastructure last year rose 88 percent and 72 percent, respectively, from 2007, the CEC said. In contrast, the country’s investment for the construction of thermal power plants declined by 22 percent year-on-year.

As a result the amount of energy used for each unit of GDP fell by 4.5 percent last year, said Liu Gang, deputy head of NEA.

But some industry analysts are pessimistic about alternative energy’s prospects in a slowing global economy.

"People might still have some interest in renewable energy, but they are no longer crazy about it. The economic crisis will cause a decline in green energy projects in 2009," said Zhou Tao, an analyst with Great Wall Securities.

Dramatically dropping crude oil and coal prices could take also take some shine off the clean energy industry.

"Such projects will also have a hard time raising funds from the lackluster stock market or getting them from banks, which are tightening lending rules," Zhou said.

China will not stop investing in large wind farms despite insufficient electricity demand amid the economic downturn, said a senior official from National Energy Administration (NEA).

Shi Lishan, deputy director of Renewable Energy Department of NEA recently told China Business Weekly that the current electricity oversupply does not alter plans to build more wind power bases.

The country’s goal to raise its wind power generation capacity to 100 gW is still achievable, added Shi.

At the National Energy Work Conference in early February, Zhang Guobao, director of NEA said China will build several wind farms with capacity of over 10 gW in the Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang autonomous regions and Gansu, Hebei and Jiangsu provinces over the next decade.

China Wind Energy Association Vice-President Shi Pengfei confirmed that China has started building six 10 gW wind power bases in these regions and provinces.

Gansu province’s Jiuquan wind power base will have a 15 gW capacity by 2015, he said.

The Xinjiang wind power generation base in Hami will produce 20 gW of electricity. Inner Mongolia will have a 20 gW and 30gW wind power base in western and eastern part of the region, respectively.

Both Hebei and Jiangsu will each have wind power facilities capable of generating 10 gW but 70 percent of Jiangsu’s wind power capacity will come from offshore operations.

If all the wind power bases finish construction by 2020, wind will account for 3 percent of the country’s overall power generation capacity, up from 1.1 percent in 2008, said Shi, adding these facilities will cost one trillion yuan.

Domestic wind power generation capacity grew by 4 gW to 10 gW in 2008, the second fastest rate in the world, behind only the US.

Hebei is planning to attract 100 billion yuan worth of investment for its wind farm projects, which will give the wind-rich province a total wind power capacity of 12 gW by 2020, a senior provincial energy official said.

The province, one of the country’s key wind power bases due to its closeness to North China’s grid load center, will jointly fund the massive energy projects with nation’s top power firms and other investors, said Zhao Weidong, vice director of the Hebei Provincial Development and Reform Commission’s Energy department.

The province’s total installed wind power capacity reached 1.1 gW in 2008, the second most in the country, after Inner Mongolia.

The country’s five leading power generating groups, China Huaneng Group, China Datang Group, China Guodian Group, China Huadian Group and China Power Investment Group are all involved in wind farms projects in the province, said Zhao.

The largest existing projects are ones by China Energy Conservation Investment Corporation, which installed a 300 MW wind farm, and some slightly smaller ones build by Guohua Energy Investment Company (a subsidiary of China’s top coal miner Shenhua Group) and Hebei Construction Investment Corporation, said Zhao. 

HONG KONG-China Technology Development Group Corporation (Nasdaq:CTDC) ("CTDC" or "the Company"), a provider of solar energy products and solutions in China focusing on a-Si thin film technology, today announced that it has exhibited at the 2009 China International Energy Saving, Emissions Reduction and New Energy Science & Technology Expo in the Beijing Exhibition Hall from March 19 to 23.

Many top Chinese leaders paid visits to the expo from March 19 to 20. Chinese President Hu Jintao made a special visit to CTDC’s exhibition booth (Booth No. 0935), and showed the interest in our SnO2 TCO Base Plate and other solar projects.

At the exhibition, President Hu Jintao stressed that enhancing energy saving and promoting emissions reduction are important for sustainable development. He also emphasized that China should continue promoting energy saving and develop renewable energy sources, despite the global financial crisis.

Jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the National Energy Administration and other ministries, the expo exhibited major achievements in energy saving and new energy in China, with the aim to promote the comprehensive development of energy saving and new energy industries by scientific-technical progress and innovation. Nearly 300 domestic and overseas companies took part in the expo.

About CTDC:

CTDC is a provider of solar energy products and solutions in China focusing on a-Si thin-film technology. CTDC’s ultimate principal shareholder is China Merchants Group (http://www.cmhk.com), one of the biggest state-owned conglomerates in China.

For more information, please visit our website at http://www.chinactdc.com.

Forward-Looking Statement Disclosure:

It should be noted that certain statements herein which are not historical facts, including, without limitation, those regarding: A) the timing of product, service and solution deliveries; B) our ability to develop, implement and commercialize new products, services, solutions and technologies; C) expectations regarding market growth, developments and structural changes; D) expectations regarding our product volume growth, market share, prices and margins; E) expectations and targets for our results of operations; F) the outcome of pending and threatened litigation; G) expectations regarding the successful completion of contemplated acquisitions on a timely basis and our ability to achieve the set targets upon the completion of such acquisitions; and H) statements preceded by "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "foresee," "target," "estimate," "designed," "plans," "will" or similar expressions are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management’s best assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it. Because they involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from the results that we currently expect. Factors that could cause these differences include the risk factors specified on our annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2007 under "Item 3.D Risk Factors." Other unknown or unpredictable factors or underlying assumptions subsequently proving to be incorrect could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required.

This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire, www.globenewswire.com

SOURCE: China Technology Development Group Corporation

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