Kazakhstan limits annual biofuels output to 2.9 billion liters

ASTANA. March 30. KAZINFORM Kazakhstan, the third-biggest grain producer in the former Soviet Union, will limit production of ethanol and other biofuels to 2.87 billion liters (757 million gallons) this year.

Biofuels output in the central Asian nation will be limited to 3.08 billion liters next year, according to a government decree published in the official newspaper Kazakhstanskaya Pravda. The government will hold production to 3.15 billion liters in 2013 and 3.22 billion liters in 2014, the decree said. It gave no explanation for the annual output ceilings.

According to Bloomberg, many countries promote biofuels derived from corn, sugar and other food crops as a way of decreasing their reliance on imported oil and reducing emissions of greenhouse gasses. Kazakhstan, which accounted for 2 percent of the world's oil production in 2009 according to BP Plc, has one plant for producing ethanol, built in 2006.

Russia and Ukraine are the biggest grain producers among nations of the former Soviet Union .

To read more see www.bloomberg.com .