A US$30 million ethanol plant has been planned for the southern Philippines by a Filipino oil company and its Chinese partner.

Eastern Petroleum and China's Guanxi Estates are planning to exploit an expected biofuel boom and will begin construction of the plant in the southern island of Mindanao late next year.

Two thousand hectares of cassava plantation in Saranggani province have already been planted for raw materials.

The Philippines in 2006 passed a law requiring that all liquid fuels for engines should contain some locally sourced biofuel within two years.