The Biofuel Question for Russia

     The Russian National Biofuels Association, a source of up to date news in the Russian biofuel industry, held the IV International Conference “Fuel Bioethanol 2009” in mid-April 2009 in Moscow. Aleksej Ablajev, president of the Association, noted that there is still strong opposition towards grain-based ethanol production in the country but there is more openness to cellulosic biofuel, based on non-edible organic wastes. While the Ukraine government has issued a new biofuels law, #1391-VI dated May 21, 2009, offering zero import duties for biofuel equipment imported into Ukraine from 2010 to 2019, Russia does not seem anxious to create new incentives. Why is this? There are many reasons, including economic, political and logistical ones… This article examines the factors restricting the Russian biofuel industry, including production and policy ones, as well as the possibilities for passing these barriers.

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