8年前，中國的專家治國論者提出了一個如何處理政府巨量玉米儲備的計劃，因為這些儲備就要變質。
Eight years ago, China's technocrats came up with an idea for what to do with the government's vast stockpile of corn reserves, a stockpile that was going stale.
該計劃的內容是將玉米轉化為淀粉、甜料或酒精，而酒精可以與汽油混合，為汽車提供動力。此舉將帶來有價值的產品，并可能減少中國對石油的依賴。
The plan was to transform the corn into starch, sweeteners or ethanol, which could be blended with gasoline to run cars. The move would create valuable products and potentially reduce China's oil dependency.
現在，人們越來越擔心，建立生化和生物燃料行業的工作進展得太快了。儲備的變質玉米已經用盡，快速發展的工業加工商，與依靠玉米作為牲畜飼料的農民之間的爭奪越發激烈。
Now there is growing concern that creating biochemical and biofuels industries worked too well. The stale corn reserves are used up and there is increasing competition for fresh supplies between rapidly growing industrial processors and livestock farmers who rely on it as feed for animals.
幾個省份已下達強制命令，要求使用的燃料中包含10%的酒精，而且中國已經定下了2020年生物燃料在運輸能源中占15%的目標。去年，中國用330萬噸玉米生產了100萬噸的酒精。
Several provinces have made mandatory the use of a fuel with 10 per cent ethanol content and China has set a target of meeting 15 per cent of its transportation energy needs with biofuels by 2020. Using 3.3m tonnes of corn, it produced 1m tonnes of ethanol last year.
中信嘉華銀行(Citic Ka Wah)中國業務首席經濟師廖群表示，去年10月以來，不斷上漲的食品和糧食價格，已經推高了通脹水平。4月份，食品價格指數上漲7.1%，將通脹推高至3%，為近兩年來的高點。
Rising food and grain prices have propelled higher levels of inflation since last October, says Liao Qun, chief China economist for Citic Ka Wah bank. In April, the food price index rose 7.1 per cent, pushing inflation near a two-year high of 3 per cent.
對玉米的需求，使作為全球第二大玉米生產國的中國，自90年代中期以來首次在2005年又重返國際市場。去年的進口量僅有7萬噸，但到2020年時，進口總量可能迅速增長至2400萬噸，達到與世界第一大玉米進口國日本相當的水平。
The search for corn sent China, the world's second-biggest corn producer, back into international markets in 2005 for the first time since the mid-1990s. Only 70,000 tonnes were imported last year but that amount is likely to soar to 24m tonnes by 2020. That level would match the current intake of Japan, the world's largest corn importer.
中國國家糧油信息中心(China National Grain and Oils Information Centre)市場監測處處長王曉輝已表示，中國的玉米出口將在2008年9月之前的一年內縮減60%，至200萬噸，同時，進口可能增至50萬噸。中國去年玉米產量約為1.43億噸。
Wang Xiaohui, a director at the China National Grain and Oils Information Centre, has said that China's corn exports might shrink 60 per cent to 2m tonnes in the year to the end of September 2008, while imports could rise to 500,000 tonnes. China produced about 143m tonnes of corn last year.
中糧集團(Cofco)副總裁于旭波(Patrick Yu)警告稱，中國可能會鼓勵工業玉米用戶從海外進口，以減輕食品安全方面的擔憂，并幫助緩解國內通脹壓力。
Patrick Yu, vice-president of Cofco, China's largest crops processor, warns that China's industrial corn users might be encouraged to source overseas to allay food security fears and help ease domestic inflation.
政府已停止批準新的以玉米為原料的酒精工廠，同時正在開發使用非糧食作物生產的生物燃料作為替代品。
The government has halted approvals for new corn-based ethanol plants and is developing alternative biofuels using non-food crops
