CHINA plans to implement “national five” fuel quality standards countrywide by January 2017, one year ahead of an earlier schedule, as the world’s second-largest fuel consumer steps up efforts to clean up its smoggy air.

    Starting from January 2016, China will expand the areas receiving gasoline and diesel that meet the standards to 11 eastern provinces and cities, according to a Cabinet statement posted on the Central Government’s website.

    Under an earlier plan, only Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province, as well as key cities in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta would have received “national five” fuels by that time.

    By January 2017, the whole country will be covered, the Cabinet statement said, versus an earlier plan of January 2018.

    The fuel standards are similar to quality specifications of Euro V, which has a maximum sulphur content of 10 parts per million (ppm).

    Supplies of higher-quality “general” diesel — used in agriculture and industries other than the automobile sector — will also be increased, the government said.

    All these upgrades would require an additional investment of 68 billion yuan (US$10.96 billion) at refineries.

    From May 1, 2015, the government will change the way it levies a resource tax for rare earth, making it based on prices instead of quantities, a policy that will also apply to tungsten and molybdenum, according to the statement.(SD-Agencies)