The U.S. Grains Council has stepped up efforts to drum up demand for its ethanol exports across Asia, its officials said, after former top customer China imposed steep import tariffs on the fuel amid the Sino-U.S. trade war, shutting out sales. “China clearly would have been a big market for us if we could address the trade dispute there, but we see Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines as our priority growth markets here,” said Tim Tierney, regional director strategic marketing for ethanol in north Asia on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference (APPEC), the largest oil industry gathering in Asia. (Reuters)