In the UK, China New Energy says its pretax losses widened during the first half of 2015 compared to 2014 despite a rise in nearly 40% more revenues during the period because of higher operating costs and costs of sales. CNE says most of its costs are during the first half of the year while most revenue comes during the second half. Despite that trend, it has experienced challenges in certain areas due to lower ethanol prices and related demand for ethanol-associated products.