Sixteen Japanese companies, which include Toyota Motor Corporation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and Nippon Oil are planning joint research collaborations with universities and government agencies, to bring down the cost of cellulose ethanol production to 40 (Japanese) yen per liter (about US$1.37 per gallon) by 2015. The cellulosic raw materials considered are rice hull and wood construction waste. The US$1.37-per-gallon figure is said to the price at which alternative fuels can compete with fossil fuels. The funding initiative of the collaboration is not yet clear, but the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries are reportedly planning to set up a sectoral panel meeting to thresh out details..